Lionel Scaloni's men were soundly beaten 3-1 by their South American rival in Madrid and while they avoided another embarrassment at the Stade Ibn Batouta, they rarely looked like a side ranked 11th in the world.

Lionel Messi, who made his return to international football at the Wanda Metropolitano, did not make the trip to Morocco and his side desperately missed his spark and invention.

The chronic wind was hardly conducive to incisive attacking football, but a moment of rare quality from substitute Angel Correa seven minutes from time sealed the win for Scaloni's side.

Morocco started in positive fashion, Khalid Boutaib firing straight at Esteban Andrada from the edge of the penalty area after 10 minutes.

That was the closest either side came, though, in what was an insipid first half with Argentina's forwards Lautaro Martinez and Paulo Dybala cutting particularly isolated figures.

The busiest man in the opening period by some distance was referee Janny Sikazwe, who dished out four yellow cards after numerous flashpoints between the two sets of players.

Martinez was put out of his misery shortly after the interval, hauled off for Matias Suarez after making just a single successful pass in his 56 minutes on the pitch.

Just when the game looked to be petering out for the most forgettable of goalless draws Atletico Madrid forward Correa sparked into life.

The 24 year-old collected Suarez's pass on the edge of the penalty area, waltzed past Achraf Hakimi and clipped a low drive past Yassine Bounou to secure the win.