Whoa, whoa, whoa, man. This is decidedly not magisterial work from Leo Messi today against AS Roma. Already up 1-0, Messi was looking to add to the lead when the play was whistled dead just as he was looking to scoot around Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. As the two players approached each other, Messi went full Zidane and head-butted him. He then escalated things by grabbing Yanga-Mbiwa's throat.It's unclear exactly what set Messi off, maybe Yanga-Mbiwa said some shit to him, but it doesn't really matter, you can't be head-butting and throwing dudes in a chokehold. Yanga-Mbiwa is remarkably calm for a dude who just had his personal space violently interrupted.
Yanga-Mbiwa did lean his head in first, but Messi took the invite and went even further. Somewhat amazingly, neither man was sent off, but they both received yellow cards in what should be a friendly for the Joan Gamper cup. Minutes later Messi scored to make it 2-0 and Barca now lead 3-0.