Lionel Messi scored from the penalty spot to salvage a 1-1 draw for Argentina against Paraguay in the Copa America on Wednesday as his side rode their luck to cling on to hope of reaching the quarterfinals.
Richard Sanchez put Paraguay ahead in the 37th minute after a lung-bursting run from Miguel Almiron before Messi levelled in the 57th minute after a handball by Paraguay’s Ivan Peris which no-one appealed for but was spotted by a VAR review.
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Paraguay were awarded a spot-kick of their own a few minutes later but Derlis Gonzalez‘s shot was saved by Argentina keeper Franco Armani, who was lucky to avoid a red card when he fouled Gonzalez outside his area at the end of the first half.
“I wasn’t afraid of being sent off because I went for the ball,” Armani said on the foul. “In no moment did I hit [Gonzalez], I cleared [the ball] and in that movement we collided.”
Argentina are still bottom of Group B with one point from two games but they could progress to the last eight with a win over third-placed Qatar in their final group game next Sunday.
“We need to win [against Qatar] and even then we don’t know if we move on, so it is complicated,” Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni said. “The solution is that we need to win. We’ll look at what we did well and what we didn’t. We’re lucky to still be alive and have hope to get to the final.”
Already-qualified Colombia lead the group on six points after beating Qatar 1-0 earlier on, with Paraguay second on two.