<!--Article Start--> <h3 style="text-align: justify"><strong>Lionel Messi was at the centre of a headbutting controversy on Wednesday as Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 victory over Serie A side Roma in a pre-season friendly at the Camp Nou. </strong> . </h3> <p style="text-align: justify">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.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Footage of the first half incident showed Messi aiming a headbutt at Yanga-Mbiwa's after the Roma defender appeared to nod his head in the direction of the diminutive South American star.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify"><strong>Messi headbutted Yanga-Mbiwa before grabbing him by the throat</strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify">A furious Messi grabbed Yanga-Mbiwa by the throat after clashing with the defender before other players rushed over to intervene.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Messi escaped a red card for the incident however, receiving only a caution from referee Javier Estrada Fernandez. Yanga-Mbiwa was also booked.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">The flashpoint represented a rare loss of cool for Messi. The Argentine has never been sent off for Barcelona and has only ever been red-carded once -- on his international debut as a teenager in 2005.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">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.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Ivan Rakitic made it 3-0 in the second half with a long range strike as Barcelona completed a routine win.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">Barcelona kick off the defence of their Spanish league crown against Athletic Bilbao on August 23.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify"><strong>Here are the highlight's of the game:</strong></h3> <strong>By AFP</strong> <!--Article End-->