Lionel Messi was at the center of a head-butting controversy on Wednesday as Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 victory over Serie A side Roma in a preseason friendly at Camp Nou.

The Argentine 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 escaped a red card for the incident however, receiving only a caution from referee Javier Estrada Fernandez. Yanga-Mbiwa was also booked.

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 - in his international debut as a teenager in 2005.

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 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 kicks off the defense of its Spanish league crown against Athletic Bilbao on Aug 23