{"id":22977,"date":"2026-05-13T23:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/22977\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T23:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:04:08","slug":"alaves-1-0-fc-barcelona-champions-beaten-in-vitoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/22977\/","title":{"rendered":"Alav\u00e9s 1-0 FC Barcelona: Champions beaten in Vitoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

FC Barcelona\u2019s run of twelve consecutive victories in La Liga came to an end away to relegation-threatened Deportivo Alav\u00e9s in a game that meant far more to the home side than it did to Bar\u00e7a, although a win would still have meant the Catalans continue their push to finish the season with 100 points.<\/p>\n

It was not the prettiest of matches. Alav\u00e9s ended an uneventful first half by scoring what proved to be the only goal of the game, then gave everything to prevent Bar\u00e7a from finding an equaliser after the break.<\/p>\n

Cort\u00e9s debut<\/p>\n

It was always likely that Hansi Flick would rotate his squad for this one, and there were no fewer than eight changes from the side that beat Real Madrid at the weekend to clinch the title, including a debut for \u00c1lvaro Cort\u00e9s<\/a> at centre-back and Wojciech Szcz\u0119sny returning in goal.<\/p>\n

Even so, Bar\u00e7a fielded a strong lineup, with Marcus Rashford especially lively as the visitors created the early chances. Dani Olmo and Roony Bardghji also came close.<\/p>\n

Behind at half-time<\/p>\n

But while Bar\u00e7a lacked some of their usual intensity, Alav\u00e9s certainly did not. Desperate for points to move clear of the relegation zone<\/a>, the hosts gradually grew into the game. Szcz\u0119sny was called into action more and more before finally being beaten with almost the last kick of the first half.<\/p>\n

Following a corner, Ibrahim Diabat\u00e9 got the better of Marc Bernal and fired an unstoppable volley past the Polish goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

Diabat\u00e9 nearly added a second early in the second half, but Szcz\u0119sny reacted well to deny the Ivorian\u2019s header. For long stretches, the home side seemed torn between protecting their slender lead and pushing for another goal, though they were generally more effective at the former.<\/p>\n

Closed out<\/p>\n

La Liga may already have been won, but Bar\u00e7a never enjoy losing, and as the match entered its final stages, they increased the pressure. The mood inside a packed Mendizorrotza stadium shifted from celebration to anxiety, with every tackle cheered like a goal as Bar\u00e7a pushed harder with each passing minute.<\/p>\n

In the closing stages, Alav\u00e9s defended deep around their own penalty area, doing everything possible to disrupt Bar\u00e7a\u2019s passing rhythm and run down the clock. There were few clear chances, little flowing football, and surprisingly little stoppage time either.<\/p>\n

When the final whistle sounded, Alav\u00e9s celebrated a vital victory in their fight for survival. Bar\u00e7a had already done their celebrating earlier in the week, but hopes of a 100-point league campaign were now over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FC Barcelona\u2019s run of twelve consecutive victories in La Liga came to an end away to relegation-threatened Deportivo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,483],"class_list":{"0":"post-22977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-barcelona","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}