Argentina bounced back from their weekend defeat to bitter rivals Brazil with a 7-0 rout of Hong Kong in Tuesday's international friendly in the Far East.
Coach Gerardo Martino overhauled his starting line-up from the one that succumbed to two Diego Tardelli goals on Saturday, and it proved to be a one-sided affair with Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi and Nicolas Gaitan all netting doubles to add to Ever Banega's opener.
Hong Kong were looking to build on their recent 2-1 win over Singapore and claim the biggest upset in the region's history against the 2014 World Cup finalists.
However, they trailed in the 18th minute when Banega stabbed home on the rebound after the ball had come back off home goalkeeper Yapp Fai.
Argentina made it 2-0 four minutes before the interval with Higuain heading home Leonel Vangioni's cross into the box, and a third goal followed two minutes later when Gaitan found a route past Fai.
The Benfica midfielder then turned provider for Higuain to net his second of the match early in the second half, and Messi came off the bench to turn in goal number five, chipping the ball over the Hong Kong goalkeeper.
Gaitan completed his brace, tapping home an assist from Messi, and the Barcelona star rounded off the scoring six minutes from time with the best of the night, carving a path through the home defence before smashing an unstoppable effort past Fai.
Messi hopes the team can keep building under his former coach at Barca, Martino, who only took charge in August.
"Argentina always have the obligation to win," he said. "We had to take our opponents seriously, despite the gap, and I think we played well and were professional.
"Now it is time for us to settle under the new boss. We have to understand Martino's ideas as quickly as possible in order to progress.
"We have the Copa America ahead and there is nothing more important. The World Cup is part of the past, we came close but now we want to win the Copa America.''