体坛英语新闻：Barca drop first points of season in Spain's matchday 6

MADRID, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona dropped their first points of the season as they were surprisingly held to a 2-2 draw at home to Girona on Sunday night.

Things had appeared to be going to plan when Leo Messi opened the scoring, but the VAR then controversially decided that Barca defender Clement Lenglet should be sent off after using his elbow for protecting himself.

Cristhian Stauni then scored twice to give Girona a shock lead, although Gerard Pique was able to save a point for Barca.

Earlier in the day, the east coast derby between Villarreal and Valencia ended in a 0-0 draw which means Valencia remain without a win all season.

Sunday began with Sevilla producing an exceptional display to stun Levante 6-2 in Levante's Ciudad de Valencia Stadium to add to Thursday's 5-1 thrashing of Standard Liege in the Europa League.

Wissam Ben Yedder netted a first half hat-trick, while Daniel Carricio also netted as Sevilla led 4-1 at the break before second half strikes from Andre Silva and Pablo Sarabia sealed the win with half an hour still to play.

Sevilla's neighbors, Betis came back from 2-0 down to claim a point at home to Athletic Club Bilbao. Athletic led 2-0 through goals from Inaki Williams and Raul Garcia and controlled the game until Markel Susaeta was sent off at the end of the first half.

Against 10 men and with temperatures of 34 degrees centigrade, Betis went on the attack and drew level through Marc Bartra and Sergio Canales, although Athletic hung on for a point.

On Saturday Real Madrid beat Espanyol 1-0 thanks to a first half goal from Marco Asensio.

Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui rotated his squad and although his side produced arguably their worst display of the season it was enough to beat a team that has now won just 1 out of 23 games against his side.

Thomas Lemar was decisive as Atletico Madrid won 2-0 away to Getafe; the Frenchman created the opening goal with a shot that rebounded into the net off the back of Getafe keeper David Soria after 14 minutes before adding the second with half an hour left to play

Alaves were another side to enjoy a big win on the road as they hammered Rayo Vallecano 5-1 in the newly renovated Vallecas Stadium.

The key moment in the match was Ibai Gomez's goal which put Alaves 2-1 ahead in the 30th minute, at the same moment Abdoulaye Ba was sent off for an off the ball incident which was spotted by the VAR.

Alaves then ran rampant against 10 men with further goals from Jonathan Calleri, Ibai and Burghi.

Valladolid remain without a win, but have the satisfaction of coming back from 3-1 down to claim a 3-3 draw away to Celta Vigo.

Iago Aspas scored twice for the home side, but Enes Unal and Leo Suarez, who netted in the 94th minute gave Valladolid a morale boosting point.

Kike Garcia's second half goal gave Eibar a 1-0 win at home to Leganes, who remain bottom without a win this season.

Finally, Mikel Merino scored the only goal of the game as Real Sociedad (who ended with just nine players) won 1-0 away to Huesca, who have lost their last three games after a bright start to the season.