Video: Great Olympic Moments: Lionel Messi helps Argentina to double football victory in Beijing They had lost 2-1 to Uruguay in a replayed final in 1928 and suffered a shock defeat when Nigeria scored in the closing moments to win the 1996 final 3-2. Their success in overturning these humiliations, as they were perceived back home in Buenos Aires, was emphatically achieved in 2004 as they became the first country in Olympic history to win all their games without conceding a goal. Carlos Tévez, later to become internationally renowned for his energetic play and equally energetic mischief making, announced himself at this tournament, scoring the goal in the 1-0 final victory over Paraguay. His eight goals in six matches made him the top scorer in the competition. But it was an even bigger star-in-the-making, Lionel Messi, who would make his mark on Argentina's unbeaten success four years later in Beijing. Messi's particicpation in Beijing was in doubt right up until the last moment when his club Barcelona, who had wanted to recall him, finally agreed to release him to play. He responded by making an immediate impact, scoring the first goal in Argentina's opening win, a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast. Messi's most important contribution was to the 2-1 extra-time victory over Holland in the quarter-finals, in which he scored the opening goal and laid on the winner, in the 105th minute, for Ángel di María. In the gold-medal match, in front of a crowd of 89,102 in the National Stadium and a worldwide television audience, Messi again assisted Di María for the 58th-minute goal in a 1-0 win over Nigeria.