BARCELONA: Lionel Messi set the record for the most La Liga appearances by a non-Spanish player on Sunday, but the Argentine’s goal couldn’t prevent Barcelona from dropping their first points of the season in a 2-2 draw with Girona, having been reduced to 10 men for the final 55 minutes.

The result meant Barca lost their two-point advantage over Real Madrid at the top of the table, with both teams on 13 points after five games.

Sevilla compensated for last week’s surprise home defeat to Getafe by resoundingly thrashing Levante 6-2 away, Real Betis battled back to draw 2-2 at home to Athletic Bilbao and Valencia are still without a win after being held to a goalless draw at Villarreal.

Messi, the league’s all-time leading scorer, overtook former team-mate Dani Alves of Brazil by appearing in his 423nd game and gave the champions the lead in the 19th minute with a first-time shot after a layoff from Chile international Arturo Vidal.

Barca’s strong start was derailed when defender Clement Lenglet was sent off 35 minutes into his first league start for the club after elbowing Pere Pons, a decision made after referee Jesus Gil Manzano consulted the video assistant referee (VAR) and which enraged Barca’s players and supporters.

Girona took advantage of the situation right before the interval when Cristhian Stuani freed himself from Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets with an impressive piece of control and fired past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Uruguayan striker Stuani scored again on the rebound in the 51st to give Girona, playing only their second season in Spain’s top flight, an unlikely lead.

Pique salvaged a point for the hosts to complete his own blockbuster night, after clearing one shot off the line and making mistakes for each of Girona’s goals.

“The sending-off conditioned the game a lot and we had the bad luck to concede right at the end of the first half, it affected us a lot and we couldn’t turn it around,” said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde, questioning the decision to dismiss Lenglet.

“It’s the first sending-off where I’ve seen the player who received the foul apologised. I suppose VAR will do it justice but I have the sensation it wasn’t a sending-off; there may have been an impact but I don’t think it was aggressive at all. It’s a foul by the opponent.”

VALENCIA CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE

Valencia’s hapless start to the campaign continued as captain Dani Parejo and coach Marcelino were both sent off in an ill-tempered stalemate at neighbours Villarreal, coming on the back of a 2-0 Champions League defeat at home to Juventus.

“It’s true we haven’t won in several matches but we can’t lose our cool,” Valencia defender Jose Gaya said. “We still have to improve, but we also have to remain positive that the wins will come.”

Sevilla’s French forward Wissam Ben Yedder scored a hat-trick in the drubbing of Levante to make it five goals in his last two appearances, following his double in a 5-1 thrashing of Standard Liege in the Europa League on Thursday.

Betis needed goals from Marc Bartra and Sergio Canales to erase a two-goal deficit in a home draw with Bilbao.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018