Two rounds after they almost snatched a point off of Real Madrid with two late goals, Alavés could use the heartbreak to drive themselves to produce something special against another Spanish giant. The hosts have worked themselves into a mid-table position with three wins from their opening first eight matches (D1, L4), albeit with all victories coming against sides starting this matchday in lower ranked positions..
Two rounds after they almost snatched a point off of Real Madrid with two late goals, Alavés could use the heartbreak to drive themselves to produce something special against another Spanish giant. The hosts have worked themselves into a mid-table position with three wins from their opening first eight matches (D1, L4), albeit with all victories coming against sides starting this matchday in lower ranked positions. Alavés have been able to beat the odds only once from four attempts this La Liga season following their 2-0 loss at Getafe last round (W1, L3) and may therefore not be in the best of shape to break an eight-year drought against Barcelona that spans a total of 14 matches (D2, L12). Even at their home venue, where seven of their ten points this La Liga term have been earned, the hosts have to go all the way back to December 2001 to find the last time that they defeated Barça in any competition (D3, L8). Barcelona also returned to winning ways during the week with an emphatic 5-0 UEFA Champions League thumping of Young Boys that put them back on track in that competition. Whilst Flashscore Player of the Match Raphinha was “proud of our performance” during the week, head coach Hansi Flick demanded that the team “start the games a little stronger”, a sentiment perhaps underlined by scoring all 25 of their goals this La Liga season beyond the 15-minute mark. It took Robert Lewandowski only eight minutes to open their account against Young Boys, so now that they’ve set themselves right on the continental stage, perhaps that was also the reset they needed to get over last weekend’s shock 4-2 La Liga loss to Osasuna. After all, the 11-game winning streak across two La Liga seasons that preceded it, carries a lot more weight than a single loss! Players to watch: Alavés’ Carlo Vicente could be the one to cause an early shock, having opened the scoring within 20 minutes in each of their last two La Liga home games, while Raphinha’s three competitive goalscoring appearances this season all saw Barça win by a 4+ goal margin. Hot stat: Despite their extensive H2H unbeaten run, Barcelona have recorded a 2+ goal winning margin in just two of the last six H2Hs Written by 90 Live
