Agence France Presse
Barcelona, August 6: Lionel Messi was at the centre of a head-butting controversy Wednesday as Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 victory over Serie A side Roma in a pre-season friendly game at the Camp Nou.
The Argentinian superstar, renowned for rarely losing his cool despite regularly being the target of brutal tackling, reacted angrily during a confrontation with Roma’s French international Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.
Footage of the first half incident showed Messi aiming a head-butt at Yanga-Mbiwa’s after the Roma defender appeared to nod his head in the direction of the diminutive South American star.
A furious Messi grabbed Yanga-Mbiwa by the throat after clashing with the defender before other players rushed over to intervene.
Messi’s anger soon subsided however as moments after the incident, he doubled Barcelona’s lead, making it 2-0 following a superb flowing move involving Luis Suarez, Dani Alves and Neymar, who had scored Barca’s first.
Ivan Rakitic made it 3-0 in the second half with a long range strike as Barcelona completed a routine win. Barcelona kick-off the defence of their Spanish league crown against Athletic Bilbao, August 23.