Barcelona's Lionel Messi headbutts Roma's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa in pre-season match

An angry Lionel Messi was lucky not to be red-carded after headbutting and grabbing the throat of Roma's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa on Thursday.

Both players were given yellow cards after the ugly exchange in the pre-season match, which Barcelona went on to win 3-0 at the Nou Camp.

The incident belied the match's tag as a "friendly", as Yanga-Mbiwa and Messi literally went head to head.

See more photos of the incident...

Barcelona were 1-0 up in the first half when the clash occurred. As play stopped at the edge of Barcelona's attacking area, Yanga-Mbiwa leaned his head in towards the Argentine. Messi responded with a headbutt before reaching up and grabbing the French defender's throat.

Messi then shoved Yanga-Mbiwa away before the referee and players from both teams came in to break up the incident. At that point both Messi and Yanga-Mbwia were shown yellow.

Source: SMH