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Lionel Messi

MONTEVIDEO. — Lionel Messi scored his 50th international goal as Argentina notched their third straight victory in South America’s 2018 World Cup soccer qualifying tournament, while Brazil snatched a dramatic late draw against Paraguay.

Messi on Tuesday swept in an emphatic spot-kick after half an hour to help Argentina to a 2-0 win over Bolivia at the Estadio Mario Kempes in Cordoba, lifting the two-time world champions to third in the overall standings.

The Barcelona superstar’s goalscoring exploits make him only the second player in Argentine history to reach a half century of goals.

The 28-year-old striker is now closing in on legendary scorer Gabriel Batistuta’s record of 56 goals, set between 1991 and 2002.

Messi now also needs only one more goal to reach 500 goals for club and country – raising the prospect that he could achieve that milestone with Barcelona this weekend when the Spanish giants take on Real Madrid in the Clasico.

Messi, meanwhile, was satisfied with yet another Argentina win, which suggests their troubled start to qualifying – which began with a shock 2-0 home defeat to Ecuador – is firmly in the rear view mirror.

“Beating Bolivia and Chile is what we wanted,” said Messi, referring to last week’s hard-fought win over the Chileans in Santiago.

“We’ve come from a low position in the standings to a high one, but there is still a long way to go,” Messi added.

Messi’s Barcelona team-mate Dani Alves was the hero of Brazil’s 2-2 draw with bogey team Paraguay in Asuncion.

Paraguay looked to be on course for another famous victory to set alongside their Copa America wins over Brazil in 2011 and 2015 after taking a 2-0 lead early in the second half via goals from Dario Lezcano and Edgar Benitez.

But a Ricardo Oliveira goal on 79 minutes gave Brazil a lifeline as the clock ticked down. Deep into injury time, Chelsea forward Willian fed Alves and the fullback surged into the area to curl his shot beyond Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar.

Alves showed a nice piece of close control inside the box before curling the ball into the corner two minutes into stoppage time to rescue the visitors after Paraguay had sat back in an attempt to defend their lead.

“That is the spirit of the team,” Alves told reporters. “As I told my teammates, for us to get anything here we needed not just quality but also fight and attitude and we had that today.”

The result saw Brazil fall to sixth place on nine points in the 10-team South American qualifying group and puts pressure on coach Dunga.

The famously combative coach said his side, now four points behind leaders Uruguay and Ecuador, would recover and laughed off suggestions his job was in danger.

“It’s not news that the (future of the) manager of the national side is discussed,” he said. “I didn’t win, it’s normal to be challenged.”

Brazil, missing striker Neymar and defender David Luiz through suspension, might even have grabbed a late winner at the death but Villar saved an Alves shot.

It was the second straight game that Paraguay had conceded an injury-time equaliser after Ecuador’s 2-2 draw last week. However, manager Ramon Diaz refused to sound downbeat despite missing out on the win.

“It shows we are capable of matching these big teams,” Diaz said. “The important thing is that we are growing as a team,” added the former Argentine international. —AFP.