Paulo Dybala thanks Lionel Messi for lending him his lucky ribbon before Copa America clash

Paulo Dybala had Lionel Messi to thank after scoring his first goal for Argentina in the Copa America third-place play-off.

The 25-year-old Juventus star netted Argentina’s second goal against Chile in the 22nd minute as they won 2-1, with Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero scoring the opener.

And after netting his first competitive strike for his country, Dybala revealed that receiving Messi’s lucky red ribbon worked.

Dybala scored his first competitive goal for Argentina in the narrow 2-1 Copa America victory

‘Messi gave me the red ribbon before the game to give me luck and I ended up scoring my first competitive goal for Argentina, so it worked,’ Dybala told reporters.

It isn’t the only time that five-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi has handed over his lucky charm to one of his team-mates.

Messi did the same for Philippe Coutinho when he gave his Barcelona team-mate the red ribbon last campaign.

But perhaps Messi should have kept the ribbon as it didn’t go quite to plan for him during the play-off with Chile.

The Juventus forward chips the ball over Chile’s Gabriel Arias to score Argentina’s second

The 32-year-old was shown a straight red – his first since his international debut in 2005 – in the narrow victory after clashing with Chile’s Gary Medel.  

With his side 2-0 up after 37 minutes, Messi chased a ball into the box and as it ran out of play he appeared to nudge former Cardiff midfielder Medel, who reacted with anger.

The pair squared up, with Messi raising his hands as Medel confronted him, and almost instantly referee Mario Diaz de Vivar brandished a red card at both players.

Messi was controversially shown a straight red after clashing with Chile midfielder Gary Medel