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• Messi blames pitch after 'ugly' Venezuela draw

  Lionel Messi was left annoyed at the state of the pitch at the Estadio Monumental de Maturin as Argentina drew 1-1 in Venezuela on Thursday.

  Heavy rain in Maturin had initially caused kick-off to be delayed by half an hour, although when the players eventually took to the field it was clear that the ball was holding up in water and bounced very little.

  Argentina, who had eight shots to Venezuela's 16, went ahead in the first half through Nicolas Otamendi before Salomon Rondon equalised in the 65th minute.

  And Messi did not hold back in expressing his anger at the playing conditions.

  "It was very difficult, it makes for very ugly matches," said Messi.

  "We could not complete two passes in a row. In the second half we did it on the right a little more, but it is difficult to play like that. Very little is played."

  Team-mate Rodrigo De Paul was in agreement with his captain and was another player to vent their frustration after the match.

  "In this case, we couldn't play football," he said.

  With the ball barely rolling on the pitch, both teams had to resort to changing their tactics to deal with the conditions. That is something Messi believes Argentina did well, but ultimately cost them the game.

  "We tied because the field didn't help us do what we wanted, we had to do another game than the one prepared for," he said

  "But we were prepared because we fought, won the battles, played with the error of the rival. We couldn't risk much by playing with passes to the back. 

  "In the first half we made a couple passes to the back and the water would stop it, and complicated it. We [played] the game we could with the water."

  The draw maintains Argentina's position at the top of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying group with 19 points after nine matches. Following Colombia's defeat in Bolivia, their lead was extended by a point.

  But Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was another who took the side of his captain, explaining that he thought the game should not have gone ahead.

  "It did not meet the minimal conditions for a football game," he said.  "You couldn't play.

  "We did what we had to do, but the conditions of the playing field were not for a match against two teams of this kind of level."

• Venezuela 1-1 Argentina: Rondon equaliser thwarts world champions on Messi return

  Argentina dropped points in a second successive CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier, as Venezuela held them to a 1-1 draw in Maturin.

  The spoils were shared at Estadio Monumental de Maturin, where Salomon Rondon's second-half header cancelled out Nicolas Otamendi's earlier effort.

  After heavy rain delayed kick-off, Argentina took the lead in the 13th minute.

  Venezuela goalkeeper Rafael Romo failed to properly clear the returning Lionel Messi's free-kick, and Otamendi reacted quickest to poke home from 12 yards out.

  The hosts went close to levelling either side of the break. German Pezzella cleared off the line from Rondon, while Geronimo Rulli - deputising for the suspended Emiliano Martinez - kept out Yangel Herrera's powerful header.

  However, Venezuela did grab their equaliser in the 65th minute - and subsequently a point - when Rondon rose at the near post to power home from Yeferson Soteldo's cross.

  Messi returned to the international scene for the first time since limping off in tears during the Copa America final.

  But the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner could not help Argentina get back to winning ways, while he conceded possession the joint-most times (19) by any visiting player.

  The conditions certainly affected the flow of the game, and was more to the suiting of Venezuela. Although they had just 40.1% of possession, the hosts outshot their opponents 16-8.

  However, they have now failed to win their last five CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers; their longest streak since going six without victory between June and October 2021.

• Haaland becomes Norway's record scorer with Slovenia brace

  Erling Haaland became Norway's all-time leading scorer with a brace in their 3-0 victory over Slovenia.

  The Manchester City striker was captaining his first nation for the first time, and marked the occasion in trademark record-breaking fashion.

  Haaland broke the deadlock after just seven minutes of the Nations League clash at the Ullevaal Stadium, where Alexander Sorloth doubled the lead seven minutes after the restart.

  Sorloth then turned provider just after the hour mark for Haaland, who broke Jorgen Juve's 87-year record with his 34th international goal in just 36 caps.

  The result put Norway firmly in charge of Group B3 with seven points, three ahead of Austria and Slovenia, with Kazakhstan propping up the table on one point.