Beijing: Lionel Messi was on Friday tipped to be the driving force behind Argentina's bid for back-to-back Olympic gold after the superstar striker shrugged off a damaging club-or-country controversy.
The 21-year-old scored once and created the second goal in the 2-1 win over Ivory Coast.
"He is the key star here," said Messi's teammate, and Liverpool midfielder, Javier Mascherano.
"He was the reason we won against Ivory Coast."
Coach Sergio Batista was delighted that his long-running battle to keep Messi in China had paid such rich dividends.
"He had great pace and performed so well which gave great confidence to the whole team.
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