Barcelona 2 Girona 2: Cristhian Stuani double sees champions drop their first points of the season

Barcelona’s winning start to their La Liga campaign is over after a thrilling draw against Girona at the Camp Nou.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring after 19 minutes but a controversial red card shown to defender Clément Lenglet rocked the hosts.

Former Middlesbrough striker Cristhian Stuani struck either side of half-time before Gerard Pique rescued a point for his side.

After Tuesday’s comprehensive Champions League victory over PSV Eindhoven, Ernesto Valverde opted to rotate his squad with Philippe Coutinho and Samuel Umtiti dropping to the bench.

Arturo Vidal and Arthur came in for their La Liga debuts in the heart of midfield and the Chilean would have a decisive role in the game’s opener, side-stepping his man inside the box before teeing up Messi to drive low into the bottom corner.

With Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez also looking in the mood you feared for Girona but the visitors almost found a swift equaliser through Portu. The attacking midfielder rounded Marc Andre ter Stegen having latching onto Alex Granell’s through ball but was denied by Pique, who scampered back to make a goal-line clearance.

Lenglet’s red card, awarded after a VAR decision adjudged him to have elbowed an opponent, offered Girona hope with former Middlesbrough striker Cristhian Stuani muscling his way past Pique to slot past ter Stegen and level the contest heading into the break.

Valverde reacted to the red card by throwing on Samuel Umtiti to fill the void at the back but six minutes after the restart Stuani gave Girona the lead, lashing home from the edge of the box after some more poor defending from Pique.

The former Manchester United defender would atone for the error, however, looping a header over the onrushing Girona goalkeeper to level the contest again.

A point sees the champions retain top spot in Spain but are now level on points with Real Madrid.