Lionel Messi is generally seen as calm and collected, a player with a tremendous sense of composure despite being repeatedly hacked and physically beaten on the field.

On Wednesday, the superstar lost his cool in rather uncharacteristic fashion during Barcelona's 3-0 win over Roma in a preseason friendly. In fact, his behavior was up there with the worst of them.

After being shoved off the ball by Roma's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa during the run of play, the Argentine tracked back toward Yanga-Mbiwa and proceeded to do the unthinkable. He threw a vicious headbutt before putting his hands around the opponents throat in rather menacing fashion.

Roma's player was not innocent as he also lunged toward Messi in a seeming act of aggression, but the Barcelona star's reaction was shocking.

Messi walked away with a yellow card, but could have easily incurred a far greater punishment.

Messi is not generally known for such effusive behavior. He has at times retaliated but has rarely been carded or sent off. The most infamous issue came during his debut for Argentina back in 2005 in a game against Hungary. The superstar was being grabbed by a defender and decided to retaliate, earning himself a red 30 seconds into his debut. Aside from that, he has never received red and is generally lauded for his good behavior.

This incident does bring about an interesting question? What happened?

The tension on the pitch was not particularly palpable, prompting some to question whether the superstar is frustrated over his situation with the national side. He is coming off a failed Copa America campaign in which Argentina finished second in the competition.

He recently had to deal with local media questioning his work for the national side and even legend Diego Maradona called Messi out on his international failures.

This is his first game back for Barcelona, so the failure from his previous outing on a pitch must still be fresh in his mind. It might be a matter of him being irritated by being pushed around. Maybe he was taunted by his opponent.

Whatever the case might be, it is an alarming sign to see the "best player in the world" lashing out in such a violent matter in a meaningless match. Hopefully this is an isolated incident that does not work itself into more meaningful matches.