Despite being in a poor moment, Barcelona have continued their good form in La Liga with a 3-1 victory over Alaves in Vitoria. It is the Catalans’ fifth win out of their last six matches in the competition.
Alaves were the better team in the opening stages, but it was Barcelona that took the lead. Ilkay Gundogan’s brilliant pass found Robert Lewandowski, who showed great skill to chip the ball over the onrushing Antonio Sivera and into the back of the net.
It stayed 1-0 until half time, and just minutes into the second period, Barcelona doubled their advantage. Pedri’s cross found Gundogan at the back post, and the German midfielder volleyed ferociously beyond Sivera to double the lead.
However, Alaves would score less than 60 seconds later to make it 2-1, as Samu Omorodion brilliantly headed home Alex Sola’s cross.
Vitor Roque replaced the injured Gundogan soon after, and four minutes after coming on, he scored Barcelona’s third – he brilliantly finished Hector Fort’s cut-back with a wonderful first time finish.
However, Roque only ended up staying on the pitch for 13 minutes, as he was controversially shown a second yellow card for a foul on Rafa Marin, which infutiated the Brazilian teenager and his Barcelona teammates.
Fortunately, that didn’t cost Barcelona, and they walked away with the three points. They leapfrog Atletico Madrid into third place in the La Liga table with that victory, while Alaves fall to 12th.
