Barcelona wonderkid Lionel Messi has sent out a message to the rest of the world he is back in business.

Messi, 18, saw his progress hampered by a thigh injury in the run-up to the tournament.

But he stepped off the bench against Serbia & Montenegro to score the final goal in Argentina's 6-0 romp.

Messi looked full of running when he came on and is thrilled to be involved at this level.

"I am happy because we played well," he told Argentina's Canal 13.

"I wanted to play some minutes and am pleased to have scored.

"The players who are on the bench want to play, like me. The people want to see us.

"We knew that Serbia and Montenegro would be difficult but we looked like the winners of the game right from the start.

"I was pleased with our form here and against Ivory Coast as we are scoring a lot of goals."

Coach Jose Pekerman said: "It is a joy for us to see Lionel back as he is capable of doing special things."

Argentina scored three goals either side of half-time to send out a warning shot to the good and the great assembled here in Germany.

Maxi Rodriguez scored twice while Esteban Cambiasso, Hernan Crespo and Carlos Tevez also found the target before Messi rounded off a spectacular victory.

Pekerman said: "I cannot remember when we last played like this. It was marvellous.

"We were on a roll after the first two goals and it is clear to be we have a great team."

Serbia coach Ilija Petkovic accepted the blame for Serbia & Montenegro's unexpected collapse.

They came into the tournament with high hopes after proving hard to beat in qualifying.

Yet they were carved apart and Petkovic said: "What happened against Argentina is not the players fault but mine.

"Our course we have made mistakes but I not going to condemn them now. This is not the time.

"We had a great responsibility to our people but we did not reach expectations."