Barcelona are known to dominate teams in the La Liga, especially when they play weaker sides in the domestic competition. But the team were left red-faced as they lost to a newly promoted team Alaves, which won the match 2-1.
This result might have come as a huge shock to many football fans, but with it, Real Madrid lie on top of the table, while Barcelona are at fourth place. No one had seen this coming, especially when Luis Enrique's team played at home. However, Barcelona did not start the game with their key stars, including Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, who were both brought in the second half. The magical duo, still, could not help the team emerge victorious.
Despite a great amount of possession in the first 30 minutes for Barcelona, the Spanish giants did not have much to show for their efforts. Neymar had a first real chance of the match in the 34th minute, but Neymar's hot was saved by the Alaves' goalkeeper. They were rather surprised by the opening goal from Alaves as Deyverson struck the first goal in the 39th minute.
Barcelona started the second half brilliantly, with Jeremy Mathieu levelling for Barcelona in the 46th minute. Now, they were in the lookout for a winning goal and manager Enrique decided to bring in his weapons, Messi (60th minute) and Iniesta (63), but Alaves stunned the home crowd as Ibai Gomez scored his team's second goal.
Soon after the goal, Suarez also came in with 24 minutes left on the clock. With players like Messi, Suarez and Neymar on the field, it was always going to be a tough final 24 minutes for the visitors. Despite Barcelona possessing the ball, they could not penetrate and threaten Alaves goal much.
Barcelona could not score the all-important equaliser, and Alaves created the first biggest shock of the season, winning at Camp Nou. Enrique was not impressed with his team's defence after the match and understands the need to improve in the near future.
"We were fragile in defence and we will have to go over that. It's an area where we've been strong in other years, but we also lacked fluidity and precision. The second [Alaves] goal, after another error by us, hit the group hard and did a lot of damage because it was a demonstration of our defencive fragility. It's good for us to evaluate things and to recognise how difficult it is to compete in this league," Enrique said.
