Messi Cup won by River Plate who defeated Atlético Madrid

River Plate defeated Atlético Madrid 2-0 in the final of the Messi Cup, with a well-taken brace from Bruno Cabral in Miami.

Cabral broke the deadlock in the 28th minute with a superb outside of the foot finish into the top right corner at the Chase Stadium.

Just 30 seconds after the ensuing kick-off, and River capitalised on Atlético's careless passing, with Cabral cooly rounding the defender, before expertly placing his sot into the top left corner.

The Argentinians finished with only 10 men on the pitch after Valentín Sayago received a second yellow card but Atlético were unable to create enough chances to cause real problems.

The Messi Cup is a global football tournament featuring eight of the best U16 teams in the world, which included three of Messi's clubs, Newell's Old Boys, Barcelona and Inter Miami, as well as English sides Chelsea and Manchester City.

River showed their quality from the get-go and looked the better of the two teams in the opening minutes of the match, before Atlético began to generate chances of their own.

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Acrobatic celebration from U.S. U16 star Zidane Cadet

A great goal and an even better celebration from Inter Miami's U.S. U16 star Zidane Cadet vs. Newell's Old Boys at the Messi Cup.

The Argentines came within a whisker of taking the lead in the most incredible of circumstances after just five minutes, with Joaquin Amor's acrobatic bicycle kick sailing narrowly wide.

Five minutes later and it was the Spanish side's turn to come close to scoring, with Aitor Perez's effort just curling the wrong way around the post.

Atlético began to cause problems again almost instantly, with Alvaro Obarrio playing in a teasing ball which could not quite find a willing teammate to convert, while Fuster was denied by a top save from River keeper Estefano Sarro when one on one, with the keeper somehow preventing the ball going over the line.

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Cabral then took the game by the scruff of the neck with a brace in little over a minute and from then on it was a difficult ask for the Spaniards.

They did push forward and attack with significantly more impetus, but it was too little, too late.

With the clock ticking and the 2-0 lead intact, River Plate manager Martín Pellegrino made two changes, with Ramiro Franco and Gianfranco Ledestre bringing added energy and reinforcements to the side.

Atlético came close to making things interesting in the dying embers of the match but in the end the gutsy River Plate defence held strong.