Barcelona beat Alavés 6-1 at Camp Nou on Saturday. Raphinha and Lamine Yamal both scored twice, Fermín López scored once and set up two more, and Anthony Gordon added a sixth late on.
Hansi Flick’s team had lost their last two games, the second of them 2-1 against Real Madrid. This was the answer he wanted. Barcelona stay top of LaLiga with 30 points from 11 games, and they have won ten of them.
Three goals before half-time
The first goal came after eight minutes. Barcelona passed the ball around the Alavés box until Fermín found Raphinha, who finished the move.
Fermín scored the second himself on 23 minutes. Yamal played the pass and Fermín hit a hard shot past Antonio Sivera from a tight angle. Before the break, Fermín won the ball in midfield and sent Raphinha through again, and the Brazilian scored with his left foot. Yamal then made it 4-0 in stoppage time with a low shot from the edge of the box.
Yamal’s second needed VAR
Midway through the second half, Gabriel Jesus set up Yamal for his second goal. The flag went up for offside, but a VAR check showed he was level and the goal stood. Yamal came off soon after to a standing ovation, and Gordon took his place.
Gordon scored with nine minutes left, lifting the ball over Sivera after a through ball. Alavés got one back through Mariano Díaz three minutes later, when Barcelona’s defence was caught out.
A win with a weakened defence
Flick was without six players, among them Jules Koundé, Eric García, Andreas Christensen and Dani Olmo. Four of the six were defenders. Brian Fariñas made his first-team debut at right-back, and Frenkie de Jong played at centre-back next to Pau Cubarsí.
The club said it was Flick’s 100th win as Barcelona coach. He reached the mark in 131 games, and his win rate is the best of any coach in the club’s history. Barcelona also said Raphinha now has 15 league goals in 11 games, the same start as Leo Messi and César Rodríguez.
Flick said after the game that his team “dominated the game”.
Our take
Two defeats in a row had people asking questions about Barcelona. One big home win against a mid-table side does not answer all of them. But the attack looked sharp again, and that is a good start.
Raphinha keeps scoring at a rate few players in Europe can match. Yamal was the most dangerous player on the pitch every time he had the ball. And Fermín, who has reportedly been watched by other big clubs, showed again why Barcelona want to keep him.
The bigger test is still at the back. With so many defenders out, Flick will need his young players to stay calm in the weeks ahead.
Who was the best player at Camp Nou, Raphinha, Yamal or Fermín? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Lamine Yamal by Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0), Raphinha by Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0).
