Carlos Tevez made his return after being an outcast under former Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella, but was handed the chance to revive his career with the national team by new boss Gerardo Martino on Wednesday.
The South Americans ultimately had Messi and a deflected Cristian Ansaldi effort to thank for their win in east London.
Anas Sharbini had given the relatively inexperienced Croatia side a surprise lead 11 minutes in with a neat finish into the right-hand corner, and Argentina had to wait until the early part of the second half to restore parity.
Ansaldi's long-range strike took a wicked deflection off Sergio Aguero's hand to leave Lovre Kalinic helpless, before the Hajduk Split goalkeeper brought down Aguero inside the area - allowing Messi to put Argentina in front from the spot.
Tevez then made his first Argentina appearance since 2011 with his introduction off the bench and was greeted with plenty of applause from the crowd at former club West Ham.
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