In the early morning of November 1 (Vietnam time), Barcelona visited Alaves in round 8 of La Liga 2020-21. After a 2-0 victory at Juventus in the Champions League, many people believe that Barca will easily " transform" Alaves.
However, the final result only brought the Catalan team 1 point (1-1). Goalkeeper Neton's mistake gave Luis Rioja the opening goal in the first half, before Antoine Griezmann equalized the score in the second half, with his first goal of the season.
Barca did everything for the attack, especially in the last 30 minutes, when the home team had only 10 men due to Jota being given a red card. The chances of Ansu Fati, Lionel Messi, Sergino dest dest, Miralem Pjanic were all denied by goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco, who made 8 saves in the match.
Coach Ronald Koeman has begun to feel worried as his team has failed to win their fourth consecutive La Liga match and is now eight points behind Real Madrid, despite playing one match less. I was worried about that, he said at a post-match press conference, Its not normal for a team like Barca to take just two of the total 12 points they can.
I was very disappointed with the result and once again we did not do well to win. That was the problem against Juventus and cost us two points in this game.
It is not a matter of attitude or lack of concentration. I can't accept that Barca created many opportunities but only scored 1 goal, but I will be even more worried if the team cannot create opportunities."
In the last 4 matches in La Liga, Barca drew with Sevilla, lost to Getafe and Real Madrid before drawing with Alaves. The Camp Nou team is currently in the second half of the rankings with 8 points after 6 matches. This is Barca's worst start to a La Liga season since 2002-03.
Coincidentally, the last time they have won fewer points than they are now since this stage of the season was 18 years ago, also under Dutch coach Louis van Gaal.
In the middle of next week, Barca will host Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League and at the end of the week will have another match at Camp Nou with Real Betis to seek the first win in La Liga since the win over Celta Vigo on October 1.
