FC Barcelona 1-1 Alaves: Result, Summary And What We Learned

FC Barcelona faced Alaves away on Saturday. Here’s the result, a summary of the action and what we learned from the La Liga fixture.

Surprises in Ronald Koeman’s line up

Sergino Dest dropped for the second game running, Sergi Roberto started at right back.

Birthday boy Ansu Fati rewarded with a nod, so too was Ousmane Dembele for his strong Juventus showing midweek with an attacking front four also consisting of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann.

Fati blew a peach of a chance

And Koeman again seemed disgusted. This time he had a crack himself, instead of trying to set someone else up, and his shot wide should have really been in the bottom corner to celebrate his 18th in style.

Clement Lenglet’s fantastic pass deserved better.

Alaves had their own big chance

Carving up their visitors on one counter attack, Edgar Mendez’s shot made Neto parry and spill out into his box with a quarter of an hour down.

Messi tried a new approach

Brought down on the edge of the box by a booked Deyverson, he did not attempt his typical curling shot towards the top locker and instead went for a hard and low option that was blocked on the line.

Neto sullied his own good name

Outstanding over the course of the season when standing in for Marc-Andre ter Stegen, the Brazilian undid all his hard work by gifting Luis Rioja the opener.

Gerard Pique’s backpass could have been better, granted. But Neto is not Alisson, and should have cleared as opposed to trying to dribble round the goalscorer, who stole the ball off him and then hit into an empty net.

Barça had a mountain to climb again in La Liga.

Messi joined Deyverson in the book, followed by Sergio Busquets and Lenglet

The captain disciplined for dissent, this was turning into another night on the road to forget after the pivot and center back were booked later on the same move.

Trailing at half time

You’d expect Koeman’s team talk to be ‘colorful’, to say the least. Yet it couldn’t help but be felt the Dutchman had gotten his team selection wrong and changes were needed. Pedri was seen warming up before the whistle, and this evening could have done with the injection of Riqui Puig – had he made the matchday squad.

Big changes at the interval

It was a triple substitution from Koeman, with Pedri indeed entering the fray alongside Miralem Pjanic and Francisco Trincao.

Booked boys Lenglet and Busquets were hooked while a flat Dembele, unable to prolong his purple patch, was also culled.

For the second game running, back dropped Frenkie de Jong into central defense.

Pjanic made an instant impact

Setting up Messi near the hour mark, his contribution already looked a lot better than Busquets’.

It was around this time that Alaves went down to 10 men

A second yellow for high feet saw Jota Peleteiro forced to take an early bath.

And Griezmann replied with his first goal of the season

Set up by a tackle on Fati, the Frenchman pounced in the box and took a load off both he and his teammates on 63 minutes.

The offside flag denied him a brace

Trincao was the offender, after running in behind the back line to connect with a delicious Frenkie de Jong pass.

The Portuguese played a quick tap across the box for Griezmann to hit home, but with 20 minutes to go, there was still hope a number 7 clearly in better spirits could come up with something else.

Between these events, Dest was brought on

Replacing Jordi Alba, Ansu Fati was supplanted by Martin Braithwaite 10 minutes after.

A slew of late chances late on

Pjanic denied by an excellent Fernando Pacheco, Pique blocked with a header on the line – Barça had to go for broke.

Frustratingly, they were rewarded at least four or five corners in quick succession that similarly amounted to nothing.

Barça missed another chance here

Finishing their evening tied 1-1, this was the second consecutive sitting of failing to capitalize on improved morale and momentum following a strong showing on the continent.

Slipping further out of the title race, they are eight points behind leaders Real Madrid in 12th, which is also a place above their opponents here today while amassing the same tally.

The Blaugrana’s worst start in 25 years to a domestic campaign continues, and it seems Koeman has learned little from the Getafe defeat a fortnight ago.

Saving an injury to Philippe Coutinho, he had a full squad to choose from but still could not come up with the right combination of players to cater for a frustrated Messi.

In the next two matches before the international break, there are strong cases for Pedri and Pjanic to start when taking into account the impact they made off the bench.