Messi head butts Yanga-Mbiwa in ‘friendly’
Lionel Messi threw an aggressive head butt at Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa when the pair squared up after an altercation in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Roma on Wednesday night.
The Italian side were on the back foot from the start and duly went a goal down from a Neymar’s opener in the 26th minute.
French international Yanga-Mbiwa then lost his temper with Messi leaning his head in towards the Argentine and making clear contact.
Messi responded by butting the French defender and grabbing him by the throat.
The Spanish referee Javier Estrada Fernandez could easily have sent both players off – Yanga-Mbiwa for the initial aggression and Messi for the retaliation – but instead showed the pair yellow cards.
Barca then extended their lead with Luis Suarez dribbling in from the right past Vasilis Torosidis and passing the ball to Dani Alves who laid it to Neymar.
The Brazil captain in turn teed up Messi who found the corner with a curling shot – just seven minutes after the 34th-minute altercation.
Ivan Rakitic’s third was the pick of the bunch, firing in from fully 25-yards into the top corner, which sealed the win at the Camp Nou.
This was uncalled for look how he did that guy http://helolatino.com/2015/08/05/lionel-messi-head-butts-defender-then-grabs-him-by-the-throat/