Barcelona 1-2 Alaves: Not even Messi can save Barça from shock defeat

You have to be great to rotate, but on Saturday night Barcelona were not great. They were not even good. With a stellar cast including Lionel Messi left on the bench, newly promoted Alaves turned up and followed up their opening day draw at Atletico Madrid with a famous win at Camp Nou. 

Barça did all the early probing but created few chances and it was the Basque side who led at the break. Deyverson got in front of his man to slide home a Kiko cross. A Jeremy Mathieu header drew the scores level in the first minute of the second half, only for Ibai Gomez to restore Alaves’ lead. Messi, Andres Iniesta and Luis Suarez were thrown on, but Barça were unable to prevent their first defeat of the new season. 

Following injuries to several players and the international break, Luis Enrique decided to pick an untested team. Jasper Cillessen and Paco Alcacer were making their debuts, while Aleix Vidal, Jeremy Mathieu, Lucas Digne and Neymar were making their first league appearances of the season. 

Despite that, it was the Catalan side who had all of the ball. Worryingly, though, given what was to come, they created very little. Vidal saw two effort sail over the bar, but there was not much else to talk of. There was soon something to talk about at the other end. Kiko got the better of Denis Suarez and Deyverson got in front of Javier Mascherano to stun Camp Nou into silence. 

Alaves held on until half-time, but we were all level again when Mathieu headed home a Neymar corner in the 47th minute. Minutes later, the Frenchman should have had Barça in front, only to blaze wide when the ball dropped to him conveniently in the six yard box. Meanwhile, Messi and Iniesta had began their warm ups. 

Messi was soon on, replacing Denis, and the game’s third goal arrived soon after — albeit from the visitors. Shortly after Edgar had a goal disallowed for offside, Mascherano and Vidal were completely outmuscled by Ibai Gomez, who burst into the area and slotted past Cillessen. The Dutchman, on his debut, had done little wrong, yet here he was staring a shock defeat in the face. 

Iniesta and Suarez soon followed Messi, although it didn’t lead to more chances, let alone goals. Barça’s No.10 tried to lead the charge but the space wasn’t there. It wasn’t meant to be. The game ended with him poking a Digne cross wide as the Alaves players fell to their knees. They’ll remember their September night in Catalonia for a long time.