Three takeaways from Barcelona 1-0 Alaves | OneFootball

Barcelona’s win over Deportivo Alaves on Sunday was anything but easy and starkly different from most of their other wins this season.

The Catalans were made to work hard through the ninety minutes, first to secure a lead and then to defend it and ensure they do not give Alaves any way back into the game. A 1-0 win, in the end, sealed a much-needed for the Blaugrana and gave them three points in the tightly contested title race.

Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Alejandro Balde were the usual standout versions of themselves last night, but it was Robert Lewandowski who found the eventual winner with a poacher’s finish just after the hour mark.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points from Barcelona 1-0 Deportivo Alaves.

Game-changing substitutions

Barcelona may have stepped onto the field last night knowing well that they must win, but their first-half performance was anything but convincing.

Despite Hansi Flick putting up one of his strongest available XIs, Barcelona did not create half as many chances as they would have liked to. They were slow in the buildup, relatively disconnected in midfield and did not look as threatening as they have this season.

Yet again, Flick’s half-time chances were spot on as Barcelona improved vastly after the two alterations he made at half-time. The side that stepped onto the field after the break, in itself, appeared completely transformed.

For starters, the manager brought on Frenkie de Jong for Marc Casado, a change that compromised some of the stability on opposition counters for added control in midfield.

Given that the visitors were not creating much threat of their own, the gamble only elevated Barcelona’s presence in the middle of the park.

The second change that altered the course of the game was hooking off Ronald Araujo for Eric Garcia, as it brought better ball-playing control from the back. Playing better out from the back after his introduction, the team looked far more comfortable.

Respect to the Pichichi leader

The match-winner. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Robert Lewandowski is far from the form he was in at the beginning of the season. In fact, the last time he faced the same opposition this season, he scored a hat-trick in the first half and guided the team home single-handedly.

He has not proven to be as lethal in front of goal in recent months, nor was he clinical again on Sunday afternoon. However, one cannot deny that he does come up clutch at times by being at the right place at the right time.

On a day when Barcelona were not able to find a way past Alaves’ low block, it was the Polish striker’s inherent sense of positioning that placed him aptly to capitalise on Lamine Yamal’s deflected volley and score the only goal on the night.

The veteran may have missed a plethora of other chances, but it was his goal that took the team home with three points.

With 22 games played so far this season, Lewandowski has now scored 18 goals in La Liga and is in the driver’s seat in the Pichichi race. Kylian Mbappe has indeed caught up and closed the gap to just three goals, but the 36-year-old continues to roll on.

To even record such figures just past the half-season mark at his age is beyond impressive, and he does deserve praise for what he is doing alongside the criticism around his inconsistency that is fired promptly.

Three massive points

Barcelona fell behind in the title race after a disastrous towards the end of last year and the draw to Getafe last month did not help their position in any way.

They stared at a seven-point deficit from the leaders – Real Madrid – and it does not help that the Merengues lead Barcelona in such dominant fashion despite losing to them twice this season.

With Real Madrid losing all three points to Espanyol on Saturday, Barcelona had a sensational chance to cut that deficit to just four points and they managed to do just that, albeit after some struggle.

Having taken full advantage of Real Madrid’s rare slip-up, Barcelona are now on 45 points after 22 games and are just four points off Real Madrid and three away from Atletico Madrid.

With the Madrid derby coming up next weekend and either one or both teams set to drop points, Barcelona are well and truly back in the thick of things. After all, they still have games against both Madrid-based teams in La Liga.