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Barcelona vs. Alaves: Score and Reaction from 2016 LaLiga Match
- Updated: September 10, 2016
Alaves delivered the first major shock of the 2016-17 LaLiga season on Saturday, beating Barcelona 2-1 at the Camp Nou.
The Blaugrana ran into a brick wall in the first half as Alaves defended deep near their own box, and Deyverson gave the visitors a shock lead just before half-time.
Jeremy Mathieu tied things up shortly after the break, but Ibai Gomez restored Alaves’ lead in the 64th minute. Barcelona pushed high up the pitch in search of an equaliser, but Alaves stood their ground, completing a historic night for the newly promoted club.
Manager Luis Enrique opted to leave Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez on the bench at the start of the match:
When Barcelona’s BENCH includes Leo Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Luis Suarez pic.twitter.com/t5DpQvBV2k
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 10, 2016
Summer signing Paco Alcacer made his debut for Barcelona, as did goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, who replaced the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Alaves sat deep in their own half to start the match, isolating Alcacer from his team-mates. Neymar had a lively start, but the Catalans couldn’t find their footing without two of their main attacking outlets on the pitch.
Arda Turan also struggled to break free as the spaces in the centre of the pitch were closed down quickly. Cillessen almost positioned himself at the midfield line at times, and per Sport, he was called into action after 13 minutes to deny Gomez:
Cillessen makes his first save in a Barcelona shirt. 13m 21 seconds.
— SPORT English (@Sport_EN) September 10, 2016
It took 15 minutes for Barcelona to have their first shot on target, with Denis Suarez testing goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco. Ivan Rakitic also tried his luck, but his ambitious attempt flew well over the bar.
Edgar Antonio Mendez showed the visitors had few attacking ambitions, firing a shot from 40 yards out, but Alaves’ defensive tactics worked to perfection early. Alcacer had no space to work with, while Turan and Neymar didn’t fare much better, with the former blasting a shot from a tight angle high and wide.
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