Cristhian Stuani Shines as Lionel Messi, Barcelona Settle for Draw vs. Girona

Cristhian Stuani scored twice at the Camp Nou on Sunday to hold a 10-man Barcelona side to a 2-2 draw.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring after 28 minutes, but a quarter of an hour later, Clement Lenglet was sent off after a VAR review for catching Pere Pons with an elbow in a collision between the pair.

Stuani netted on the stroke of half-time, controlling a cross and showing good strength to power between Gerard Pique and makeshift centre-back Sergio Busquets before slotting home.

The Uruguayan found the net again five minutes after the break, rifling into the top corner after Marc-Andre ter Stegen had denied Portu, but Pique atoned for his earlier error to head home an equaliser in the 63rd minute.

Valverde Must Be More Reactive 

The match looked to be going according to plan until Lenglet's red card, which forced Barca to play with 10 men for an hour.

Fortunately for Barcelona, Samuel Umtiti was waiting on the bench for just such an occasion.

Inexplicably, however, manager Ernesto Valverde did not decide to bring him on until half-time, opting to move Busquets back into defence for the remainder of the first half.

That decision proved costly as Stuani took advantage of the defensive uncertainty to nip in and equalise for the visitors, per football journalist Rik Sharma:

Squawka's Muhammad Butt agreed with Sharma's assessment (warning: contains profanity):

Had Barca made it to the break without conceding, it's possible the second half could have played out differently too, and they may have been able to eke out a win despite their numerical disadvantage.

If the Blaugrana find themselves in a similar situation again in this campaign, Valverde must be much more reactive to setbacks or it will cost the team further points they can ill afford to drop.

Vidal Can Form a Potent Partnership with Messi

Before the game took a downturn from Barcelona's perspective, they will have been encouraged to not only see Messi get on the scoresheet once again, but also that summer signing Vidal was the one to supply him.

Philippe Coutinho has developed chemistry with the Argentinian since his arrival in January, and Barca will be hoping the Chilean can do the same.

He showed strength and vision to hold off a defender and feed the ball to Messi near the penalty spot, where he confidently side-footed into the bottom corner.

As Sharma noted, Vidal has made a point of picking out his new team-mate:

The 31-year-old's production waned somewhat in his second and third years at Bayer Munich, but he racked up 12 assists in his first campaign at the club.

If he can rediscover that incisive pass in the final third when supplying someone as clinical as Messi, his assist on Sunday could be the first of many this season, and the two could form a fruitful partnership.

What's Next

Barcelona travel to Leganes on Wednesday, before Girona host Real Betis a day later.