Messi didn't play but there is guarantee Argentina would have won if he played either. Plus, they got a red card in the first half you know. It was still going to be a tough game for them.
Argentina's overall gameplay was not good in this match. Losing against Ecuador was definitely a failure for Argentina. Otamendi's red card in the 31st minute of the match had a bad effect on Argentina's overall gameplay. Anyway , at the beginning of the second half , Ecuadorian midfielder Caicedo was sent off after getting a red card. After that, we did not see a good performance from argentina's players. Argentina's players did not play well in the second half. The interesting thing is that Argentina could not make a single on target shot in this match.