'It's the first sending off where the player fouled apologises', says Valverde

Following Barcelona's first draw of the season, coach Ernesto Valverde was clear with what had gone wrong for the team in a Catalan derby with Girona.

Valverde addressed the sending off of Clement Lenglet in the first half, appearing to disagree with referee Jesus Gil Manzano, who consulted VAR before making the decision.

"It handicapped us, we had bad luck to concede just before the end of the first half," Valverde said.

"We couldn't come back.

"I haven't seen the incident on the television, there's a clear collision and it seems that there's an elbow.

"It's the first sending off where the player fouled apologises.

"I suppose that VAR provides justice and I have the feeling that it wasn't a sending off, possibly there is an impact, but I don't think that it was anywhere near intentional.

"It's a foul by the rival player."

Some have been quick to criticise the former Olympiacos coach, who delayed the introduction of Samuel Umtiti until half-time, with Girona's equaliser coming just before the break.

"When you think about making a change and you wait, it's Murphy's law that you regret everything," he admitted.

"But it's always like that, I thought I had to give him a few more minutes to warm up and we were in control.

"It was an isolated play."

There were also starts for the likes of Lenglet, Arturo Vidal and Arthur as Valverde rotated his side ahead of the tie.

"It was a different game with how it went, they are players who can help us a lot," Valverde said.

"We had it under control, I saw positive things from them."

With a game in just three days, Valverde could be forced to consider further rotation before facing Leganes on Wednesday.