LIONEL MESSI scored his 50th international goal as Argentina notched their third straight victory in South America’s 2018 World Cup 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.

    Messi’s Barcelona teammate 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.(SD-Agencies)