Argentina did what they normally do against CONMEBOL foe Bolivia on Wednesday night in Córdoba: they won the match handily.

But it wasn't so much how Argentina got the result as who they did it without, as Lionel Scaloni's side cruised to a 4-0 win with talisman and global star Lionel Messi not on the team.

Lautaro Martínez, Nico Paz, Cristian Romero and José Manuel López scored the goals in the first game for Argentina since Messi announced that he was retiring from the national team at the end of August.

Messi played 207 games during his career for Argentina and is its all-time leading scorer with 125 goals, 21 of them in World Cups. Romero wore the captain's armband for the match.

Martínez opened the scoring early in the first half with a shot from just outside the box, and Paz made it 2-0 before the break with a deft chip from close range. Romero headed Argentina to a three-goal lead after the break and López capped the evening with a close-range strike to put his team up 4-0.

Messi still has one game to play for Argentina -- a sendoff match for the superstar against Benin on Oct. 6 -- in Buenos Aires, with La Albiceleste facing Burkina Faso in another friendly on Oct. 3 prior to that.

It was a reassuring performance for Scaloni and Argentina, who were returning to action for the first time since their World Cup final defeat to Spain in extra time.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this recap.