La Liga 2016/17: Deportivo Alaves 0-6 FC Barcelona, 5 Talking Points
Week 22 of the La Liga saw Barcelona visit Vitoria-Gasteiz to take on Deportivo Alaves at the Mendizorroza Stadium. The Catalans came into the game looking for revenge after losing to Deportivo Alaves at the Camp Nou Earlier this season.
Alaves hosted their Copa del Rey final opponents in what was a hammering for the home team as Barcelona netted six to temporarily go ahead of Real Madrid, who will play later this evening. Goals from MSN, Ivan Rakitic and an own goal from Alexis saw Barcelona win comfortably.
However, the scoreline was certainly not an indicator of the bravery of Pellegrino’s Deportivo Alaves and they must take pride from their performance in the first half. Here are five talking points from the game as we discuss this and more:
#1 It took something special to break the defence of Deportivo Alaves
Deportivo Alaves have a reputation of being a fantastic team defensively and had not conceded even a single goal in the first 16 minutes of their 30 games this season. It was more of the same today, despite fielding a much weaker team as Barcelona struggled to break through within the first 30 minutes.
However, it took some magical play from the Catalans to open the scoring. The attack started from one of Sergio Busquets’ simple passes that make things complicated for the opposition, and ended with a good finish off an exquisite cross from Aleix Vidal.
While Barcelona were lucky to hit six today, it will certainly not be the same in the finals. And with their strongest side, Alaves could probably upset the Catalans.