Barcelona 2-1 Alaves: 5 Talking Points

#3 Barcelona were far too open at the back

Barcelona v Deportivo Alaves - La Liga

The Blaugrana don’t fear anyone, especially at Camp Nou, so they were unlikely to be too wary of a team struggling at the bottom of LaLiga going forward. Alaves are the last team to beat the Blaugrana at home in the league, though, and perhaps deserved a little more respect.

From the start, Ernesto Valverde’s men set their stall out, enjoying 74% possession in the first half; Messi, Suarez, Iniesta and Coutinho huffed and puffed, but they couldn’t blow the house down.

Space was left in behind and, even though Alaves’ attacks were sporadic, Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti were tempting fate by staying quite far apart and joining their teammates in the opposing half of the field.

One long ball was always likely to be their undoing, and on 23 minutes that proved the case when former Manchester City striker Guidetti broke free. Aided by a slip, which clearly distracted Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the Swede put the visitors ahead. Moments later his strike partner, Ruben Sobrino, got clear but failed to get any power on the shot. Umtiti and Pique refused to change their approach, which led to an effort from former Espanyol Ruben Duarte on the hour mark.