Lionel Messi has said he really missed playing for Argentina as the Albiceleste gave their World Cup qualifying campaign a much-needed boost with a 2-1 victory in Chile.
In a hard-fought match, the 2014 finalists came from behind after Felipe Gutierrez's early header, with Angel Di Maria equalising before Messi set up the winner for defender Gabriel Mercado.
Messi missed the first four qualifiers last year due to a knee injury and the team had scored only two goals during his absence. On Thursday in Santiago, they scored that many in the first 24 minutes.
"Watching them from the outside it always hard. I missed playing. I really wanted to get back to playing," the Barcelona forward told TyC Sports after the match.
"It was important to win today especially because we beat them as visitors. It was important to beat them because they are a national team that have worked very hard and they drown you in pressure."
Argentina improved to eight points in five matches with the victory over last year's Copa America winners. They play Bolivia at home on Wednesday.
"I like the personality of this team. I was glad to be back to help this group of players, who give their all on the field,'' Messi said. "But now at home we can no longer give away any more points. It will be very important for us to win for placing."
"As always in qualifying going against Bolivia will be tough but as the home team we can't lose any more points."
Coach Gerardo Martino told reporters in Santiago: "Leo played a very good first half, had the ball a lot and felt comfortable.
"In the second half, he had very little of the ball and that complicates things for Leo, because he likes to play.''
Argentina now occupy the fourth and final qualifying place in the 10-team group, though Brazil would overtake them with a win or a draw against Uruguay on Friday night.
Martino said the team are in a better place now.
"It was very important for us to get this win, the qualifiers now look different," he said. "It required a lot of hard work but the players gave everything.
"For us it is very important to get the six points at stake in this international window, because then we would go to the Copa America just thinking about that and not looking over our shoulders knowing that we need points in the qualifiers."
Di Maria responded to his goal by making a silencing gesture towards the home crowd, who had revelled in their team's win over Argentina in last year's Copa America final.
But Martino said: "This was not a revenge for us, we must never suggest so.
"Chile was the champion of America and now if we celebrate, it is only for the three points we rescued. Chile are one of the toughest teams in the world."
Information from Press Association and The Associated Press was used in this report.