Tempers flare as Lionel Messi loses his cool and head butts opponent at FIFA Club World Cup
But don't tell Lionel Messi, who appeared to headbutt an opposition player in a fiery physical exchange in his side's FIFA Club World Cup Opener.
The world renowned attacker, who usually lets his football do the talking, let tempers flare as he locked heads with Al-Ahly opponent Yasser Ibrahim.
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Messi's Inter Miami were held to a goalless draw on home soil in the tournament's heated opening match on Sunday.
Things quickly turned ugly in the second half with the World Cup winner while waiting in the box for an attacking corner, when something was seemingly said by Ibrahim.
The duo then squared up to each other and locked heads, before Messi appeared to lose his cool and knock his head into his opponent, as you can see in the video above.
They exchanged more words before being separated by teammates.
The incident spectacularly went unreviewed by VAR and neither player was punished as play continued, with each side taking only a point apiece.
While the Argentinian escaped punishment, his teammates weren't as lucky in a much that saw five yellow cards, including for Messi's old Barcelona teammates now at Miami, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez.
Messi almost sealed a victory for his side with almost the final kick of the game, hitting a shot off the post in a near miss.
But it was Messi's incident with Ibrahim that left fans bewildered at full time.
'That's a straight red card,' one social media user wrote online.
'I thought Messi was a discipline player, I was wrong,' another said.
Ibrahim certainly wasn't fazed by the brush with the eight time Ballon D'Or winner.
The Egyptian is no stranger to big names, playing alongside famed Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah for his national side in the 2022 World Cup Qualifier.
Meanwhile Messi will be frustrated given fast starts in the tournament from popular rivals at Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain, who both won their opening matches in their own groups.
Inter Miami on the other hand have much to do in their remaining games in Group A against sides Porto and Palmeiras (who played out a draw of their own) in order to have hopes of qualifying for the Round of 16.
They next play the Portuguese team on Friday morning.
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