Atletico Madrid came back from 2-0 down after a red card for Antoine Griezmann to rescue a 2-2 draw at newly-promoted Girona to start their La Liga campaign on Saturday.
Christian Stuani profited from some slack marking at the heart of an Atletico defence that had Diego Godin suspended to head home twice in three first-half minutes.
Atletico’s hopes seemed to have being dashed when Griezmann was controversially sent off 23 minutes from time.
The French international appeared to have been brought down by Gorka Iraizoz as he rounded the goalkeeper, but was instead booked for diving and then shown a straight red card for his protests towards referee Juan Martinez Manuera.
Despite being down to ten men, Atletico responded in style to salvage an unlikely point as Angel Correa blasted into the top corner from outside the box 12 minutes from time.
Jose Maria Gimenez rounded up the comeback when his header from Koke’s free-kick caught Iraizoz in no man’s land.
“Many at 2-0 down in the first-half would have thought the game was over,” said Atletico boss Diego Simeone.
“When we went down to 10 men that thought would have been doubled, but the team kept going in the same way they have the past f
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