Barca blip mars Messi mark

BARCELONA - Lionel Messi set the record for the most Spanish league appearances by a non-Spanish player on Sunday, but the Argentine's goal couldn't prevent 10-man Barcelona from dropping its first points of the season in a 2-2 draw with Girona.

Messi, the league's all-time leading scorer, overtook former teammate Dani Alves of Brazil by appearing in his 423nd game.

Messi gave Barcelona the lead before Clement Lenglet was shown a red card in the first half.

Girona striker Christian Stuani struck twice for the visitor before Barcelona salvaged a point through Gerard Pique's goal in the 63rd.

"For us, this is a triumph," Stuani said. "Coming here and getting this result is so valuable for us."

Referee Gil Manzano showed Lenglet a direct red card for elbowing Girona's Pere Pons in the face.

Manzano made the ruling after consulting the video monitor to review the contact.

"It's clear that the sendingoff swung the match," said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde.

Valverde took responsibility for not sending on centerback Samuel Umtiti sooner to fill the hole left by Lenglet that Stuani took advantage of to get his first goal just before halftime.

"You are planning to do something but you wait, and then ... you regret it all. I thought we had the match under control," Valverde said.

Barcelona had won all its previous four rounds of the Spanish league, its Champions League opener and the Spanish Super Cup.

Its first setback of the season left Barca tied with Real Madrid atop the league standings with 13 points.

Messi put Barcelona ahead in the 19th when he used his left boot to stab in a pass from Arturo Vidal after the midfielder had won the ball.

Messi had already gone close to scoring what would have been a brilliant goal when he dribbled around three defenders, sending two of them to the turf, before his low shot was tipped wide by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

The mercurial Argentine also hit the crossbar with a freekick before Pique made up for his sluggish defending on both of Stuani's goals by heading Barcelona level.

Yedder hat-trick

Meanwhile, Wissam Ben Yedder notched a first-half hat-trick to lead Sevilla to a 6-2 rout at Levante, equaling the biggest winning margin away from home in the league for the Andalusian club.

It was the second big win for Sevilla in three days, after Ben Yedder scored twice in a 5-1 home win over Standard Liege in the Europa League last Thursday.

Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik saved a penalty by Jose Morales that would have allowed Levante to pull level at 2-2 midway through the first half.

Pablo Sarabia also scored for Sevilla and set up three more goals.

Sevilla had gone three matches without a win in the league.

Associated Press