By Sachit Subba • Football • Nov 01, 2026 05:37 AM • 56 views
BARCELONA - Barcelona buried a very difficult week with an avalanche of goals on Saturday, routing Alaves 6-1 at Camp Nou to re-establish themselves at the top of LaLiga.
After the back-to-back defeats against Real Madrid in the El Clasico and against Paris Saint-Germain in Europe, Hansi Flick got the required response. Fermin Lopez was the engine in the middle of the park, scoring one and creating three. It was a ruthless attacking performance from the very first minute that really laid the visitors open.
The hosts needed just 8 minutes to break the Alaves backline with Pedri playing a through ball to Fermin who squared it across to Raphinha to slot home. Alaves had a brief attempt to get back into it in the 23rd minute but Fermin was again in the right place to slot in from a sharp angle just inside the box.
Fermin scored again four minutes before the interval, picking up the ball in the opposition's attacking third and rolling it into Raphinha's path for the Brazilian's second of the day. First half stoppage time saw Lamine Yamal collect a loose ball and slot a low effort into the corner to put Barcelona ahead 4-0 at the interval.
The pressure hardly lessened in the second half. Adeyemi missed the first of the few opportunities Fermin created in the opening minutes, but Barcelona found their fifth in the 64th. Substitute Gabriel Jesus found himself in the box with a pass and Yamal duly scored his second of the game.
With nine minutes on the clock Rodri found Anthony Gordon with a weighted ball behind the defence and Gordon slotted it home to make it 6. A late error from Rodri allowed Mariano Diaz to slot one back for Alaves three minutes later but the result was already settled.
"This is what I want to see after two defeats," said Flick. "How we reacted, that was good and the right way."
The manager were suffering from massive personnel shortages in defence and were forced to deploy midfielders Brian Farinas and Frenkie de Jong as centre-backs with Kounde, Christensen and Garcia all out.
"We have to get through these two games," Flick said, looking ahead to Tuesday's Champions League trip to Aston Villa. "We don't know who is coming back."
Barca are now on 30 points with a victory, two clear of Atletico Madrid who have now moved to 28 points after a 2-0 win over Levante (Grimaldo and Simeone). That brings Diego Simeone's total managerial wins at the club to 344, equaling Luis Aragones' record at the club in 192 fewer games.
Real Madrid are six points adrift of the top of the table going into their Sunday away game at Racing Santander. Real Betis remain in fourth place after a 2-1 victory over Malaga to record their best 11 game start since 1934. Rayo Vallecano have levelled on 12 points with Celta Vigo following a 3-0 away win.
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