Argentina, meanwhile, have given themselves some breathing space after a scrappy 2 -1 win over Chile.
They moved into joint 4th place with Brazil in the standings with 8 points each.
Chile were hampered by the fact that they had to make two substitutions due to injury – Mati Fernandez and Marcelo Diaz.
Messi’s returned to the Argeninian side but the goals were scored by Angel Di Maria and Gabriel Mercado.