Alaves continue to protest about that Umtiti handball, which would have been a harsh award in my view, after the whistle. But they may well feel they deserved more than that – they were excellent for the most part, everyone knowing their jobs to the letter, and it took until around the 70th minute for Barca to start cutting them open. Then Suarez scored – replays show it might actually have glanced in off the hand of a ducking Pique – and it was always going to be hard after that. Pacheco could have got a firmer hand on Messi’s free-kick, I’d say, but this will go down as another one the world’s best player has pulled out of the fire. It was a fairly quiet debut for Coutinho, by the way, but nobody will mind just now. What on earth can stop Barcelona from romping to the title?
Thanks a lot for your company – see you again soon!
Full-time: Barcelona 2-1 Alaves
Barca go 11 points clear ... just!
90+2 min: Alcacer plays in Messi, who feints, shimmies, jinks and seems to have done the hard work ... but then jabs at a relieved Pacheco.
90+1 min: It was actually Sobrino who had that penalty claim. We have three added minutes.
89 min: In a change I *have* noticed, Demirovic is on for Duarte.
87 min: Alaves now up the press and get a long throw in, hurled by Wakaso into the box. Munir, whose arrival on the pitch I missed and who is actually on loan from Barca, swings a boot at it and claims a handball as the ball strikes Umtiti, whose hands are down by his side. I’m not sure he had a case, it hit his wrist but the arm wasn’t raised or extended.
Updated
86 min: Poor, poor Alaves though. They have been superb.
Goal! Barcelona 2-1 Alaves (Messi 84)
Are you surprised? I’m not surprised. That is picturebook brilliance by Messi, who steps up and plants the ball up, over, down and into the roof of the net. Pacheco gets a finger to it and, as it’s not right in the corner, may have expected to do better. But it’s all about Messi, yet again.
Updated
83 min: Here we go, though – Barca have a free-kick, a yard outside the box, in prime Messi territory. It came from a really shocking slide on Alcacer by Wakaso, who must have nine lives tonight. I can’t believe he is still on the pitch.
82 min: Iniesta, who has come to life, tries to tickle one through to Suarez but there’s just too much on it. Pacheco is alert yet again.
81 min: Alaves’s left-back, Duarte, is a player I know little about but has greatly impressed me today. Scouting report for you there.
78 min: Suarez glances a Messi ball well wide. It’s attack vs defence now, more than at any other time. Alaves don’t look especially panicked, to be fair to them, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a given that they’ll buckle and lose.
76 min: Suarez is in again, a loose defensive header sending him haring into the right side of the box. Alcacer is waiting for a tap-in but Suarez fancies a second goal and gets it wrong, blasting over.
74 min: Now we’ll see what Alaves are made of. Messi drills a wide free kick into Pacheco’s midriff but you suspect there’ll be more coming his way.
Goal: Barcelona 1-1 Alaves (Suarez 72)
Yes, they’d ramped it up in the last few minutes and you could sense something might happen. Iniesta, hitherto so quiet, weaves his way down the left flank and gets to the line, chipping over a delectable cross that Suarez, meeting it beyond the far post, volleys across Pacheco. A sliding defender can’t stop it going in, and the unbeaten record may well remain intact!
Updated
71 min: Close again for Barca, as Paulinho is found right in front of goal by an improvised Pique flick. Pacheco makes a marvellous double save, blocking the first effort and then knowing little about the second, before the ball is headed away close to the line. Now Alaves may be tiring.
68 min: Alaves have started to threaten on the counter again but the risk is that they’ll now be picked apart ... and as I write they are, Messi releasing Suarez with a sensational ball through Duarte’s legs. It’s Barca’s best chance of the game but Pacheco stands up superbly, saving with his right ankle, and the ball deflects away!
Updated
67 min: “The idea of Barcelona struggling due to some key players not playing loses street cred as soon as you see Messi, Suarez and Coutinho in their attacking line up,” writes John Ryan. “Looks like Alaves just want it more, maybe Barcelona are thinking this is one of the five games or so they can give up before Real Madrid come anywhere close to catching them ...”
66 min: Coutinho’s race is run – he’s not got into the second half, certainly. Alcacer comes on to try and salvage this for Barca.
64 min: Alaves defender Laguardia, showing he is so much more than New York’s third-biggest airport, snuffs out a Rakitic burst. Barca are yet to really create anything in this half and the shock really could be on. A daisycutter from Paulinho straight through to Pacheco only heightens that impression.
63 min: The first Alaves change sees former Leeds loanee Alfonso Pedraza replace Perez.
62 min: It could – should? – be two! Guidetti plays Perez in with a stunning reverse pass but he delays too long and two defenders get back to deny him a clear sight of goal! He does slip the ball left to an open Duarte though, whose thunderous strike deflects wide. The corner comes to nought.
59 min: Alba finds space and that’s because, when Barca break down the middle, Alaves have seven players *astonishingly* narrow, all compacted into a few square yards, to avoid being prised open. It works because the resulting cross towards Messi is squeezed back to Pacheco.
57 min: Now Roberto gets space to whip a cross in behind, but nobody is attacking it and it’s down the throat of Pacheco anyway.
55 min: They do win a corner after Messi and Roberto attempt to combine, but it’s punched away by the impressive Pacheco.
54 min: It’s hardly been the thundering start to the second half Barca wanted; the commentary team seem to have seen an improvement that I, so far, haven’t. They’ve always got a moment of magic in them though.
53 min: Sure enough, Valverde changes his full-backs. Alba and Roberto on, Digne and Semedo off. That’s an upgrade.
52 min: Something Alaves have done very well so far is snuff out Iniesta. He and Digne aren’t on the same wavelength and I think Jordi Alba may come on soon.
50 min: “Alaves are good, but they’re no Dundee United. Played Barca four times in competitive matches, beat them four times. I need to remind myself of this constantly, given the mess we’re in now. Drink helps too,” mourns Simon McMahon.
Reminds me of an Aberdeen fan I met a few years ago in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, who owned a bar there that doubled as a shrine to his club’s 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup final win over Real Madrid.
48 min: Coutinho looks to play a return pass over for Suarez but the execution can’t match the idea and it runs out behind the goal.
47 min: The ball has been worked around the Alaves half in these early stages. No way through yet ...
Peeeeeep! Second half underway
Alaves can’t ... can they?
Would there be a chink of light for the chasing pack if Barca lost this? No, probably not – that’s the truth of it. Second-placed Atletico would still be eight points behind. But Alaves, the last team to beat Barca at home in the league, will still be cheered on by the rest of the top clubs – particularly another one in Madrid – over the second half. It starts shortly ....
Coutinho watch: inventive, bright and looking to make things happen, with some good signs of understanding already. One chance, deflected wide. Not a bad start but he’ll want to be more involved at the sharp end.
No complaints there, surely, for Barca – who got closer but still saw little come off. Alaves, who had already posed a threat before Guidetti’s potent double-hit, have been disciplined and bright. You still sense it’s a long second half ahead for the underdogs, though ...
Half-time: Barcelona 0-1 Alaves
Barca get a last-ditch corner but Alaves survive and they do go in ahead, courtesy of that odd Guidetti finish. They deserve it despite seeing only 26% of the ball! How about this!
45 min: Alaves are a minute or so from going in at half-time ahead ... and it would be convenient, as Barca are finally posing some clear and concerted threat.
43 min: Wakaso, who has been booked already, is very lucky not to be booked again for a bad foul on Coutinho, who limps away. He is surely on the edge now. Messi has a free-kick 30 yards out ... and it’s a beautiful effort, kept out only by a combination of Pacheco and the near post!
41 min: Then Suarez finds Messi with a cute ball over the top ... but the genius’s touch lets him down and the chance goes!
40 min: Gomez finds Sobrino in space down the left with a superb ball but, with Guidetti awaiting the cross, his delivery hits the first defender. Alaves, for the first time really, then have a little spell of possession.
37 min: Barcelona now have virtually 100% of the ball but Alaves aren’t letting them do that much with it. And they’ve shown how effective they can be at the other end ...
35 min: Messi goes for goal with an angled free-kick on the right, batted over by Pacheco with little ceremony. The corner glances off Rakitic and flies wide.
34 min: That Guidetti finish, by the way, was most definitely a deflection off his own standing leg. Meanwhile Barca’s corner is dealt with.
32 min: Coutinho comes close! That’s the closest they have come. Rakitic’s cross is desperately cleared and it falls to Coutinho, in a great position, 18 yards out. He wraps his foot around the ball but it deflects just wide off Duarte, who is going to need some treatment.
Updated
31 min: Sobrino, who is having a fine game, starts running on halfway and keeps on going towards the box. He has Umtiti jockeying him and eventually runs out of steam, shooting harmlessly towards Ter Stegen, but it was bright work again.
30 min: The goal, and the chance for Gomez before it, could have been prevented by a modicum of defensive diligence. Barca had so many men forward both times – did they not expect any threat at all from the visitors? Iniesta curls over as Ernesto Valverde’s side seek some punch of their own.
28 min: There is a long, long way to go but Barcelona look shaken and have really produced little of note yet. Could this be the day their unbeaten record goes, against all odds?
26 min: It’s nearly two – what a save from Ter Stegen! An Alaves throw on the right is flicked on and met at the near post by Sobrino only for the ‘keeper to arch his back and superbly claw the hooked effort away, one-handed, from his far corner. Duarte is then booked for a hack on Messi.
25 min: That was Guidetti’s first league goal since last May. Alaves have been brilliant on the counter here! Barca are floundering.
Goal! Barcelona 0-1 Alaves (Guidetti 23)
My goodness! They cannot say they weren’t warned! Barca lose the ball on the edge of the Alaves box and the ball is instantly worked through to Guidetti, who has a whole half to run into. He has a long time to think about what’s next and just about keeps his cool, putting a curious finish – I think he slipped and possibly even hit it against his other foot! – inside the near post. Well!
Updated
22 min: Suarez forces a save from Pacheco there though, glancing a Messi free-kick towards goal but seeing the ‘keeper save sharply to his left. Then Wakaso is booked for a late tackle on Rakitic.
20 min: Alaves are certainly no great shakes in possession but for my money they have started well and with a good shape. Barca have seen lots of the ball but are yet to create a good chance, and are a touch lucky not to be behind.
18 min: Actually, Gomez was a bit tentative with that chance, having seen it again. The ball from Perez was OK, but Gomez didn’t really attack it and let it run across him, allowing Ter Stegen to save his right-footed nudge.
16 min: ... Alaves create a great chance! From the Barca set piece they purr up the pitch and Gomez is completely clear if they can get it to him. The ball is *just* that little bit to his left, allowing Ter Stegen time to come out and spread himself, blocking sharply. The visitors could so easily have been ahead there!
15 min: Guidetti rises to win a header at the far post but everyone else is ahead of the ball. Barca click into gear and Messi moves them slickly upfield, a Suarez cross eventually being turned behind his own goal by a defender. The corner is cleared and then ...
13 min: Coutinho, full of ideas on the right, slips in Semedo with a delightful ball but his cutback is intercepted.
12 min: A lengthy Barca passing move is curtailed, deep in his own half, by that man Sobrino. Alaves then show some intent on the counter, getting several men forward, but Gomez wastes the position with an outside-of-the-ball cross straight at Ter Stegen.
10 min: Sobrino tries to do something down the left, but soon has three Barca players around him and is left to claim a non-existent foul from Paulinho. At the other end Coutinho tries to find his old Liverpool buddy Suarez, who has moved just offside.
9 min: I should mention that Alaves’s manager is the former Barca legend Abelardo Fernandez, whose appointment in December has brought significantly improved form. He’ll know how to handle this one.
Updated
7 min: Semedo tries to play in Coutinho, quiet early on, but the ball is just behind him. Barca keep the ball and work it left to Digne, who flashes an angled effort not far wide.
5 min: A Suarez ball beyond Messi at the far post is Barca’s main activity so far. Alaves have started as if willing to make it tough; I guess there’s the carrot of terminating this monumental unbeaten run of the hosts’, but we’ll see what happens if they go a goal down.
4 min: Sobrino, of course, makes an all Man City old-boy attacking partnership for Alaves, although he never actually played for City and I’m not sure he spent much time in Manchester at all.
2 min: Ter Stegen almost gets into some early pressure when letting a backpass run across him, with Sobrino lurking, but manages to clear. Alaves are pressing well early on.
Peeeep! Alaves start us off!
They wear white shirts with Peru-style red flashes.
Luis Suarez is receiving, from Eric Abidal, a trophy for La Liga’s best player of December. He’s on hot goalscoring form with 12 in his last nine!
They’re lining up in the tunnel at the Nou Camp. Barca have won their last six in the league ... surely they’ll make it seven? Out they come ...
Who’s that “Guidetti” I see on the Alaves teamsheet, I hear you ask. It’s John Guidetti, silly – former Man City wunderkind, freshly on loan from Celta Vigo. He is still only 25; it could still happen for him!
Alaves did beat Sevilla at home a fortnight ago, so they’re no mugs, and to be fair their plight wouldn’t look anything like as severe had they not started the season so awfully – losing their first six. Since then they have won six, lost seven in the league, and that’s hardly bad. They are, though, La Liga’s joint-second-lowest goalscorers with 16 so don’t expect anything too buccaneering tonight.
Want to know what else has happened in La Liga – and across Europe – this weekend? Check out our roundup:
@NickAmes82 Coutinho in with the big boys now which I’m sure he’ll feel right at home with Ivan R & the giant that is Iniesta come to think of it I’d feel pretty comfortable in that midfield. Expecting a tsunami of goals from the champions elect which is a weekly thing from FCB
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) January 28, 2018
Big expectations!
Oh, Getafe have equalised in the 93rd minute there! Any chance of similar drama in ... oooh ... 26 minutes’ time?
On my television currently it is Sevilla 1-0 Getafe. It would be a useful win for the former’s Champions League prospects.
Coutinho, of course, came on as a substitute during the cup win over Espanyol. I didn’t really see how he got on, can anyone enlighten me? And do we think he’s the best fit for this Barcelona team? He’s a lovely player ... but ... but ... I’m going to say it ... I think Christian Eriksen is better.
The teams
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Digne; Rakitic, Iniesta, Paulinho, Coutinho; Suárez, Messi. Subs: Cillessen, Sergio, Alcacer, Alba, Roberto, Vidal, Mina.
Alaves: Pacheco, Alexis, Laguardia, Maripán, Duarte, Ibai Gómez, Medrán, Wakaso, H. Pérez, Guidetti, Rubén Sobrino. Subs: Sivera, Martin, Vigaray, Pedraza, Munir, Diéguez y Demirovic.
Hi there
On paper this fixture – first against 17th – is both a formality and not *especially* enticing. But there’s a big “but”! As you’ll see shortly when I provide the teamsheet, this is Philippe Coutinho’s first start for Barcelona. And he starts alongside Messi, Suarez and Iniesta. Surely this will be fun, games and much more besides?
What hope, then, for poor Alaves? They were beaten 2-0 at home earlier this season by a Messi pair and, last February, were demolished 6-0 on their own turf. Barca then went on to beat them 3-1 in the Copa del Rey final. Well ... there is a glimmer of light if you search for it. In September 2016, under Dead Man Walking Mauricio Pellegrini, they had the sheer cheek to steal a 2-1 win at the Nou Camp – so why not do it again?
Perhaps because Barca are running away with the division this season and unlikely to be caught cold, while Alaves – ninth last time around – are simply not as good this time. It should be a comfortable enough home win, then, but we’ve seen enough to be surprised before. Send in your thoughts, and away we go ...
Premable
Nick is on his way.
