La Liga: Gundogan Debuts As Getafe Hold Barcelona In Opener

Former Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan made his La Liga debut for Barcelona as the defending champions were held by Getafe in their opener.

The German, 32, joined the Spanish giants in the summer.

He appeared to have a golden chance to mark his debut with a goal inside the first couple of minutes, but he was flagged offside after firing straight at the goalkeeper.

Barcelona had Raphinha and manager Xavi sent off in a bad-tempered game.

Former Leeds forward Raphinha was dismissed before the break for elbowing Getafe’s Gaston Alvarez.

He had earlier gone close to opening the scoring when he controlled a deep cross before his curled effort inside the box was kept out by Getafe goalkeeper David Soria.

Xavi, meanwhile, was dismissed late in the second half for arguing against a decision by the referee after Abde Ezzalzouli appeared to have been fouled.

Getafe were also reduced to 10 men soon after the break when Jaime Mata was shown a second yellow card for a foul.

Robert Lewandowski had a header cleared off the line in the second half, while Barcelona thought they might be awarded a late penalty after the referee went to check the monitor for potential fouls on Gavi and Ronald Araujo, but nothing happened.