Barcelona beat Alavés 6-1 at Spotify Camp Nou to go back to the top of LaLiga. Atlético Madrid had gone top of LaLiga earlier on 31 October by winning at Levante, and the result ended a two-game losing run after defeats to PSG and Real Madrid.
Four goals before the break
Raphinha opened the scoring in the 8th minute, and Fermín López added a second in the 23rd. Raphinha struck again in the 41st minute, before Lamine Yamal made it four in first-half stoppage time.
Yamal and Gordon add more
Yamal’s second goal, in the 64th minute, was first ruled out for offside. A VAR review showed Yamal's run was onside. He was taken off to a standing ovation soon afterwards, with Gordon replacing him. Gordon scored in the 81st minute, his first league goal for the club. Gordon ran on to a through ball from Rodri and chipped the goalkeeper. Mariano Díaz pulled one back for Alavés in the 84th minute.
Changes at the back
Absences left Flick short at the back. Fariñas started at right-back and played the full 90 minutes. Frenkie de Jong moved to centre-back alongside Cubarsí, and João Cancelo completed the back four at left-back. Gerard Martín replaced De Jong in the 82nd minute.
Fariñas is normally a midfielder. Fariñas joined Barcelona as an under-14 player in 2018. Fariñas had some experience of the role, spending almost half an hour at right-back in a 2-2 pre-season draw with Birmingham City on 31 July.
Possession and next match
Barcelona held 77% of the ball, and the crowd was 53,523. Barcelona host Aston Villa in the fourth round of Champions League league-phase games at Spotify Camp Nou on Tuesday 3 November, kicking off at 21:00 local time.
