🌎 Brazil held in Colombia; Messi inspires Argentina past Uruguay | OneFootball

Brazil and Argentina were both in World Cup qualifying action on Sunday.

Here’s how they fared.

Colombia and Brazil play out lacklustre stalemate

Brazil produced a sluggish performance away to Colombia as Tite’s men maintained their unbeaten run in qualifying.

The visitors dominated possession in the first half at the Estadio Metropolitano in Barranquilla, with Neymar stinging the hands of David Ospina with a fifth-minute drive.

But that was as close as the Selecão came to breaking the hosts’ stubborn resistance before the interval.

The game followed a similar pattern after the break, with both sides mostly reduced to long-range efforts that Ospina and his Brazilian counterpart Alisson stood up to.

Raphinha impressed off the bench for the Samba boys, but couldn’t manufacture that moment of magic to break the deadlock.

On Thursday, Brazil (1st place, 28 points) will host Uruguay while Colombia (5th place, 15 points) will entertain Ecuador.

Irrepressible Messi rides his luck as Argentina overcome Uruguay

Scorer: Messi 38′, De Paul 44′, L Martínez 62′

Lionel Messi’s 80th international goal set Argentina on their way to a comfortable three points.

Uruguay opted to leave striker Edinson Cavani on the bench at El Monumental, with Luis Suárez leading the line in a conservative 5-4-1 formation.

It did not have the desired effect, however, as the hosts raced into a 2-0 lead at the break.

Messi opened the scoring in somewhat fortuitous circumstances. The Argentinian legend’s dinked ball into the penalty was meant to connect with the run of Nicolás González but managed to evade both the Fiorentina man and goalkeeper Fernando Muslera before bouncing into the net.

There was also a huge slice of good luck when they registered their second moments before the half-time whistle.

Lautaro Martínez mis-hit his effort from outside the area only for the situation to develop perfectly for Rodrigo de Paul to race onto the ball and fire home.

De Paul returned the favour after the interval by sending a beautiful low cross right into the path of Martínez to direct into an empty net.

On Thursday, Argentina (2nd place, 22 points) will play host to Peru while Uruguay (4th place, 16 points) travel to face Brazil.