Barcelona travel to the Basque Country on Sunday looking to recover from their first loss of the La Liga season at Mendizorrotza Stadium against Alaves. Hansi Flick’s side went down 4-2 to Osasuna last week but are still leading the way in Spain’s topflight with 21 points while the hosts are 11th after a slide in form.
Luis Garcia’s men have lost three of their last four with Real Madrid and Getafe two of those three sides to have beaten them. Alaves have not beaten Barca in La Liga since 2016 so this is a sizeable task which might be made slightly easier by their visitors’ injury list and midweek exertions in Europe after thumping Young Boys.
Barca got over that shock against Osasuna where they conceded four goals and looked poor but then stuck five past their Swiss opponents in the UEFA Champions League a few days later. With the current injury crisis engulfing the Catalan giants, Flick has overseen a very good start to the new season. With 24 wins from 36 on the road in La Liga, plus an unbeaten record at Alaves dating back to 2001, they will still fancy a win here.
Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Sunday, October 6 | Time: 10:15 a.m. ET
- Location: Mendizorrotza — Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain
- Watch: ESPN Deportes | Stream: Fubo (try for free)
- Odds: Alaves +450; Draw +333; Barca -175
Story so far
Alavs finished 10th in La Liga last season which was their first back in the top flight and so far it has been a solid and unspectacular start with 10 points from eight games to place themselves in midtable. With three wins, one draw and four losses with 11 goals scored, they can hurt sides who underestimate them despite their recent dip in form. Barca managed seven consecutive wins before finally tasting defeat and they lead Real by three points. The Blaugrana are the top scorers in La Liga with 25 goals with Robert Lewandowski accounting for nine of those from his 10 outings.
Team news
Alaves: Hugo Novoa is a doubt so Garcia could stick with the team from Getafe with Toni Martinez up top and Joan Jordan in central midfield. Carlos Vicente should continue out wide while Antonio Sivera is most likely to continue in goal.
Possible Alaves XI: Sivera; Tenaglia, Abqar, Sedlar, Diarra; Jordan, Benavidez; Vicente, Stoichkov, Martin; T Martinez.
Barca: Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, Marc Bernal, Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo and Gavi are all out. Inigo Martinez is fit after a knock and Eric Garcia is available after being banned in Europe. Garcia in for Ferran Torres could be the only change with Inaki Pena in goal while Wojciech Szczesny builds up his fitness. Frenkie de Jong returned against Young Boys and could feature again here.
Possible Barca XI: Pena; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Balde; Casado, E Garcia, Pedri; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha.
Prediction
Although it could be tricky in places against a motivated Alaves side, Barca will likely do just about enough to see off their Basque hosts to get back to winning ways. Pick: Alaves 0, Barca 1.
