INTERNATIONAL: Lionel Messi will play in Thursday night’s World Cup qualifier against Venezuela in Caracas. Despite having played less than half an hour this season for his new club, Paris St Germain, Messi has been declared fit to hit the field at the Caracas Olympic Stadium.

Messi spent Wednesday training with Argentina ahead of their three qualifiers over the next week. The two-times world champions play Brazil in Sao Paulo on Sunday, and then Bolivia in Buenos Aires next Thursday. They sit in second place behind Brazil in the 10-team South American qualifying group. The top four teams will qualifying automatically for Qatar 2022.

If Messi was a bit out of breath during training, he didn’t show it. He’s not played a full match since 10 July, when he started for Argentina in the Copa America final. Much of his time since then has been dominated by his move to Paris after 18 years with Barcelona.