Frenkie De Jong (C) celebrates after scoring a goal during the Spanish league football match between Deportivo Alaves and FC Barcelona at the Mendizorroza stadium in Vitoria on January 23, 2022. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images)
Javi Lopez (L) vies with Abde Ezzalzouli during the Spanish league football match between Deportivo Alaves and FC Barcelona at the Mendizorroza stadium in Vitoria on January 23, 2022. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images)
A toothless Barcelona manage to scrape by Alaves
If Barcelona were looking for answers following the Copa del Rey elimination against Athletic Bilbao, they’re going to have to keep searching.
A poor Barcelona side needed until the final minutes of the game to break the deadlock against the 19th placed team in La Liga.
Jordi Alba, who has been the subject of some criticism, lobbed a pass to Ferran Torres who was onside. The former Manchester City forward then laid the ball off to Frenkie de Jong who calmly shot the ball past the Alaves keeper Fernando Pacheco.
It was one of Barcelona’s few shots on target but it proved to be enough to pick up all three points. The home side had actually created some of the clearer goal scoring opportunities but simply were unable to take advantage.
Xavi Hernandez made a couple of changes from the Athletic Bilbao match with Sergiño Dest in place of Dani Alves and the return of Luuk de Jong. It doesn’t seem to matter who Xavi plugs in as the results on the pitch continue to look the same.
Without the Brazilian’s crosses, De Jong was largely handled by the Alaves defense. Dest simply doesn’t offer what Alves does and didn’t do much to demonstrate he deserves more playing time going forward.
But the malaise throughout the game affected the whole team. Hopeful long balls and sloppy passes hurt Barcelona in the first half. Up until the goal by De Jong, those problems did not get much better.
The club will take a win however they can get them. With Atletico Madrid and Real Betis having won their games, the Catalans needed a win to keep pace in the race for the top four and a Champions League spot. The win allowed them to bypass Real Sociedad and now sit in fifth place.
The performance left much to be desired and with Clement Lenglet replacing Pedri to close out the game, it harkens back to former manager Ronald Koeman doing something similar and getting lambasted for it.
Barcelona now get a little time off thanks to the international break. It’ll allow Xavi to work more with his players and try to get his team to play better in all facets of the game. They’re going to have to as their first game coming off the break is at home against Atletico Madrid.
