Barcelona needed a reaction and got one. A week after losing 4-2 in Paris and 2-1 at home to Real Madrid, Barça beat Alavés 6-1 at the Spotify Camp Nou in front of 53,523. They were 4-0 up at half-time, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal scored twice each, and Fermín López had a hand in three of the first four goals. The win puts them back on top of LaLiga, two points clear of Atlético.
The week before
The defeat at the Parc des Princes was Barça's first of the season. The Clásico four days later ended a run of nine straight league wins. On Friday, Hansi Flick kept it simple. "The most important thing tomorrow is to win," he said. "We could have won, but we have to accept defeat and learn from it."
He also had a defence to rebuild. Six players were unavailable, four of them defenders, and Flick had already named the answer at right-back. "The time has come for him to play. He deserves it," he said of Brian Fariñas.
A new back four
Fariñas, a Valencian midfielder who joined La Masia's under-14s in 2018 and played 35 times for Barça Atlètic last season, made his first-team debut at right-back and played the full 90 minutes. Frenkie de Jong dropped into central defence alongside Pau Cubarsí, with João Cancelo on the left.
With Dani Olmo injured, Fermín played in the attacking midfield role behind a front three of Raphinha, Karim Adeyemi and Yamal, with Rodri and Pedri behind him.
Fermín everywhere
The first goal took eight minutes and fifteen passes involving nine players, according to the club. Pedri released Fermín down the left with the outside of his boot, and Fermín squared for Raphinha to finish low into the bottom right corner with his left foot.
On 23 minutes Yamal found Fermín on the right and he hit the ball into the top left corner from a tight angle. On 41 he won the ball back himself and played Raphinha through for the third, another left-footed finish, this time into the bottom left corner.
Alavés did have their moments. They hit the crossbar in the first half, and Joan García saved from Carlos Protesoni. But in first-half stoppage time Yamal took Cancelo's pass and drove a low shot from the edge of the area into the bottom right corner. It was 4-0 at the break.
Fermín finished the first half with a goal and two assists, and he was named man of the match.
Raphinha's fifteen
Raphinha's two goals take him to 15 in 11 league games this season. According to the club, that equals a mark shared by César Rodríguez and Leo Messi. He was taken off on 62 minutes, along with Cancelo, as Flick began to rotate. Pedri had already gone off at half-time, a booking to his name, for Marc Bernal.
Yamal's second, after VAR
Gabriel Jesus, on for Raphinha, needed two minutes to make an impact. On 64 he slipped Yamal in behind and Yamal lifted the ball over Antonio Sivera. The flag went up for offside, but VAR showed he had timed his run correctly and the goal stood.
Yamal went off ten minutes later to a standing ovation. It was his first game since finishing third in the Ballon d'Or, and Flick had said on Friday: "I'm very proud of Lamine."
The bench, and a late goal
His replacement scored too. On 81 Rodri played Anthony Gordon through and he chipped the sixth. Three minutes later Alavés pulled one back when substitute Mariano Díaz took advantage of a defensive mistake and finished into the bottom left corner. Gerard Martín, on for De Jong, needed treatment for an injury in stoppage time.
The numbers
Barça had 77 percent of the ball and completed 771 of their 833 passes. Alavés completed 182. Barça had 13 shots, seven on target, to Alavés' seven and three.
It was also Flick's 100th win as Barcelona manager, in his 131st game. The club says that gives him the best win percentage of any Barça coach, 76.33 percent, and makes him the second fastest to 100 wins, behind Luis Enrique, who needed 126.
Top again, and what comes next
Barça have 30 points from 11 games, two more than Atlético. Real Madrid are third on 24 with a game in hand, away at Racing on Sunday.
The defence still has gaps to fill, and Flick's warning from Friday stands: "We can't give the ball away cheaply like we did against Madrid." The next two games will test it. Aston Villa come to the Camp Nou in the Champions League on Tuesday, then Barça go to Atlético in LaLiga, first against second.
Our model had this at 3-0. Barça doubled it.
