Argentina rest Messi and frustrate crowd

By Brian Homewood

BEIJING (Reuters) - Argentina frustrated the 53,000 crowd at the Beijing Workers' Stadium on Wednesday when coach Sergio Batista decided to rest Lionel Messi in their final group game against Serbia.

Already certain of a place in the quarter-finals, the defending champions also left out several other top players including midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme and Sergio Aguero.

The South Americans, who won 2-0 for their ninth consecutive win in Olympic tournament matches, were given a lukewarm reception and a large part of the crowd sided with Serbia.

"The Chinese public have to understand that our target is to win the gold medal and they needed to be rested," Batista told reporters.

"I apologise if people were upset but we're thinking about the best interests of the team. If they were annoyed, then that's bad luck but there are other players who have to play, not just Lionel Messi."

Batista also stood by Angel Di Maria who had both attempts at a twice-taken penalty saved by goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic.

"He played a very good game in a position he's not used to," said Batista. "Unfortunately, he didn't convert the penalty but I'm very happy with his performance."

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)