Barcelona’s perfect start to the new La Liga season came to an end against Girona on Sunday night.
The mercurial Lionel Messi had opening the scoring after 19 minutes in what appeared to be a routine performance from the Blaugrana, but Girona simply refused to give up on the night.
Former Middlesbrough forward Christian Stuani had one of the games of his career, first levelling the scores on the turn of half-time before propelling them into a shock lead minutes later.
Gerard Pique rescued a point shortly after but Barcelona couldn’t grab a winner as their opponents secured a famous result in Catalunya.
However, the game will be remembered very differently by their home side who felt aggrieved by the sending off of new signing Clement Lenglet when Barcelona led 1-0.
Lenglet was making his first start in La Liga after a summer move from Sevilla and his elbow on Pere Pons was judged to be worthy of a red card.
The decision was certainly met with controversy and Sergio Busquets led the protests after the game, noting: “Lenglet didn’t make any aggression, he made a natural movement.
“In fact, the player from Girona (Pere Pons) asked for forgiveness after the play. I am in favor of VAR, but if it is applied correctly, it’s just as well for everyone.”
Very interesting indeed and it explains why the Barcelona players felt so aggrieved by the situation.
That certainly applies to the captain Messi who made his feelings on the matter abundantly clear at full-time with the 31-year-old breaking his usual character.
Messi approached referee Jeses Gil Manzano after the final whistle, appearing to snub his gesture of a handshake before exchanging some heated words.
Messi giving Manzano a piece of his mind and refused to shake his hand since he won't touch no scum #BarcaGirona pic.twitter.com/J7ChmVhd3C
— N🎗️ (@_MessiNutmegs) September 23, 2018
Of course, it’s more than understandable for a professional to feel aggrieved about officiating and it’s certainly not the first time that Messi has behaved in this way.
But it doesn’t happen often when it comes to Barcelona’s star player and it will be interesting to see whether Messi’s exact message for Manzano emerges in the coming days.