Argentina cruise against Venezuela as Brazil stay perfect

But Brazil continued their perfect start to qualifying with a seventh win out of seven as Everton Ribeiro scored the only goal in a 1-0 away victory over Chile.

In his first match for his country since moving to Paris Saint-Germain, Lionel Messi struggled to stamp his authority on the match in Caracas, but it mattered little.

Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring in first half injury time after Venezuela had been reduced to 10 men by Luis Adrian Martinez's red card for a reckless challenge on Messi.

Venezuela did not go home empty handed, though, as Yeferson Soteldo scored a cheeky "Panenka" penalty deep into injury time at the end of the game.

Argentina travel to Brazil on Sunday in a repeat of July's Copa America final, which they won 1-0 to end a 28-year wait for a major trophy.