Antoine Griezmann was sent off, as ten-man Atletico Madrid came from two goals down to earn a draw at the home of new comers, Girona in their 2017/2018 La Liga season opener.
The match began with a minute’s silence in respect of the victims of the Barcelona terror attacks at the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi.
The home side didn’t take to long to register their first goal in La Liga, to signal their readiness for a long season ahead.
Cristhian Stuani headed them into the lead, a dream start for the hosts, in the 22nd minute, before he doubled Girona’s advantage minutes later through another header, following a free kick as they went into the break with a 2-0 advantage.
After the restart, Atletico were reduced to ten men, following the dismissal of Griezmann, who was first shown a yellow card for diving, before receiving a second yellow and red for dissent seconds later.
However, the Diego Simeone led side reacted by pulling one back in the 78th minute through Angel Correa, before equalizing with five minutes left to play via defender, Jose Gimenez, who powered home a Koke free kick.
Earlier on, a late penalty goal earned a first win of the season for Real Sociedad at Celta Vigo.
The hosts drew the first blood when Maxi Gomez scored in the 21st minute of the match.
But the game was level twelve minutes later, as Mikel Oyarzabal equalized for Sociedad, after punishing a mistake by goalkeeper, Sergio Alvarez as the first half ended 1-1.
Celta were back in front five minutes after the break, and it was the first scorer, Gomez, who got his second to give the home side a 2-1 lead.
Ten minutes from time, the match was headed into a tense finish following an equalizer by the visitors through Jose Juanmi.
There was one last drama in this one, as Sociedad were handed an opportunity to snatch all three points after Carlos Vela was fouled in the Celta box, with the referee pointing to the spot.
William Jose stepped up to convert the resultant spot kick, giving the away side a winning start to their La Liga campaign.
In the late kick off between Sevilla and Espanyol, the away side managed to hold their hosts to a 1-1 draw, though Sevilla had a man sent off late into the game.
Sevilla took the lead in the 26th minute through Clement Lenglet, who scored from a corner kick.
But just before half time, Espanyol were back level, as Leo Baptistao scored a very beautiful solo goal.
With both teams failing to add to that score line in the second half, despite numerous chances, the home side were down to ten men six minutes from regulation time, after Ever Banega received his marching orders for losing his discipline, having initially been cautioned.
