Despite having 74 per cent possession in the final 10 minutes, the Lions couldn’t find a way through as a turnover from Rodrigo Isgró marked a brilliant win for Felipe Contepomi’s side.
So, after a pulsating contest and with the Lions now over in Australia, what can Andy Farrell’s side take on board with just over three weeks to go until the opening Test against the Wallabies?
Los Pumas profit from aerial battle
Over the last 12 months, Argentina have had some big victories.
During last year’s Rugby Championship, they won away in New Zealand before beating both Australia and South Africa, so this had all the makings of a tough examination for the Lions.
And so it proved.
In this performance, Argentina’s emphasis on their kicking game caused havoc for the Lions' back three and allowed the visitors to gain territory, particularly through the halfback pairing of Albornoz and Gonzalo Garcia.
This may have been the first thing Australia boss Joe Schmidt (who surely would have been watching) noted down as the opening few minutes saw Argentina reclaim two kicks before heading wide into the 22. They forced a penalty for offside and then kicked for the first points of the contest.
Argentina’s opening try came from a set piece, where Albornoz put a lot of pressure on Alex Mitchell, who initially did well to pass to Fin Smith to clear.
After a clean lineout, Justo Piccardo played a short pass to Lucio Cinti in midfield, with the Benetton fly-half wrapping around in readiness for the following phase.
He played a flat pass which caught out Tommy Freeman, which gave Santi Carreras room to fix Marcus Smith and put winger Mendy through.
An opportunistic second try came on the stroke of half-time for the Los Pumas, who were capitalising on the Lions’ rustiness.
From a Lions perspective, this will undoubtedly improve over the next three weeks but after good, initial work by Finlay Bealham to force a turnover, their attack was halted by inside centre Piccardo.
His offload found its way to Isgro who passed to Carreras, who again fixes his opposite man to create space for his fly-half to run in.
The pick of Argentina’s scores occurred in the second half and, once again, it came from their kicking game and their intelligence.
A box kick from Garcia was taken well by Isgro, which allowed Argentina to receive quick ball from the ruck.
Albornoz shaped to kick and flanker Tom Curry expects this. He charges towards the outside half who dummies excellently and breaks through the tackle of Henry Pollock.
Number 8 Joaquin Oviedo and centre Piccardo are in support, before replacement Matias Moroni runs onto a brilliant support line and his grubber kick is chased down by Cordero who scores.
The Lions’ struggles in defence and the way Argentina profited from putting boot to ball may well be an area Australia look to exploit. Certainly food for thought for Farrell and his coaches.
Nice shape but clinical edge, line-out and defence needs to be sharper
There were positives within the Lions performance though, particularly during the opening 40 minutes where they dominated at scrum time.
Both starting props for Argentina were penalised, with Ellis Genge impressing in the front row.
Some of the attacking build-up from the Lions was rather promising, with wingers Duhan Van der Merwe and Freeman finding space throughout, and some flat and accurate passing from the base of the ruck created holes within the Argentine defence.
Opting for a 1-3-2-2 attacking shape within the forwards, there were times when players would be missed out to allow room for others to carry.
One example came from Tomos Williams - who caught the eye from the bench - as a flat pass to the destructive Genge - who was in the middle of a pod of three forwards - saw him charge through.
A couple of phases later, with the Lions pushing towards the try line, Williams decided to play it beyond Maro Itoje and Bealham, with the Argentine defence fixed on the captain and Irish prop. Beirne is left with a simple finish.
The main issue for the Lions was taking the chances when they were on offer. Out of 15 entries into the Argentine 22, they only averaged 1.4 points scored. Los Pumas averaged 4.1 from their six entries into the Lions 22.
Whilst there was parity in the scrum, the lineout did falter. On opening night, Luke Cowan-Dickie’s darts weren’t perfect and perhaps when Premiership finalist Ollie Chessum gets his opportunity for the Lions, there will be an improvement in that area.
But on Friday night, the Lions only had a 78 per cent win percentage from their own ball with a couple of misthrows in promising positions.
In the early stages in Dublin, their narrow defence was also exposed, something for Simon Easterby [Defence Coach] to work on ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Western Force.
"You can try and throw it all around and say we had plenty of opportunities and we should have done better, but the story of the game is we compounded too many errors and weren't able to put the pace on the game that we wanted to because of that,” Head coach Farrell said post-match.
"We need to be better than that. It is what it is.”
So, reasons to be cheerful despite this defeat, but the Lions know they have to be sharper going forward.
What’s next for Farrell’s side and who staked an early claim?
As mentioned, the Lions have now touched down in Australia and are building up to their game against Western Force in Perth.
Some of the latest news from down under is that the fitness of Irish duo Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan is still being monitored.
Farrell has indicated he will give some of his Leinster contingent - as well as the Gallagher Premiership finalists - a run-out on Saturday at the Optus Stadium.
Gibson-Park and Keenan both missed Leinster’s United Rugby Championship final victory through injury, but you can bet your bottom dollar that both will be itching to impress as soon as they can.
But from Friday against Argentina, there were some encouraging performances, particularly in the front row by Genge and Bealham.
Jac Morgan and Ben Earl worked hard on both sides of the ball, with the latter making 18 carries while the Welsh captain won a turnover and made six tackles in his 50 minutes on the field.
Replacement scrum-half Williams injected some pace when he came on, with Freeman and Sione Tuipulotu impressing with ball in hand even if they did give away a couple of turnovers.
Despite a disjointed performance, it is still very early days with plenty of players waiting in the wings for their opportunity over the coming weeks.
Defeat shouldn't have Farrell losing sleep just yet, but things are starting to feel real with the Lions now over in Australia.
