Barcelona had four defenders out and De Jong at centre-back, and they still put six past Alavés
Raphinha and Lamine Yamal scored twice each as Barcelona beat Alavés 6-1 to go back above Atlético Madrid, a week after losing the Clásico.
Nov 1, 2026
Barcelona went into Saturday night with two defeats in a row and four defenders in the treatment room. They came out of it with a 6-1 win over Alavés, top of La Liga again, and a 100th win for Hansi Flick since he took over in 2024.
Raphinha and Lamine Yamal scored twice each at Camp Nou. Fermín López got the other first-half goal and set up two more, and Anthony Gordon came off the bench to score the sixth. Mariano Díaz pulled one back for Alavés in the 84th minute, which nobody in the home end will remember.
Four up by half-time
It took eight minutes. Pedri released López down the left with the outside of his boot, and López squared it for Raphinha to finish. In the 23rd minute López scored himself, taking Yamal’s pass and hitting it hard from a tight angle. It went in at the far post, and it may well have been meant as a cross.
Yamal and Karim Adeyemi both missed good chances after that. Raphinha did not. López won the ball and sent him through, and he finished across Antonio Sivera for 3-0 in the 41st minute. That is 15 league goals in 11 games for the Brazilian. In first-half stoppage time Yamal hit a low shot from the edge of the area for the fourth.
Midway through the second half Gabriel Jesus, on as a substitute, played Yamal in behind and he dinked it over Sivera. The flag went up, but VAR found he had timed the run right. Yamal went off soon after, Gordon came on for him, and in the 81st minute Gordon ran onto a pass from Rodri and chipped the sixth.
De Jong at centre-back, a debut at right-back
The scoreline hides how thin Flick’s back four was. Jules Koundé, Eric García, Andreas Christensen and Xavi Espart were all out, so Frenkie de Jong played at centre-back next to Pau Cubarsí. On the right, Flick gave a first-team debut to Brian Fariñas, a midfielder who has been at the club since 2018. He played the full 90 minutes.
Flick said he simply asked De Jong whether he could do it. “He said ‘Yes, when I can help the team I will do it,'” Flick said. Of Fariñas, who played youth football with Yamal, he said: “You could see he is connected with Lamine.”
On taking Yamal off with the game won, Flick kept it short. “When you score two goals, it’s easier to go out,” he said.
Why the reaction mattered
Barcelona had won 11 in a row before losing 4-2 to PSG in the Champions League and then 2-1 to Real Madrid in the Clásico. That Clásico ended a run of nine straight league wins. “This is what I want to see after these two defeats,” Flick said.
They needed the points too. Atlético Madrid won 2-0 at Levante earlier on Saturday, their seventh league win in a row, and went top for a few hours. Barcelona now have 30 points from 11 games, two more than Atlético. Real Madrid were on 24 from ten before Sunday’s trip to Racing Santander.
Aston Villa come to Camp Nou in the Champions League on Tuesday. Then it is Atlético away next Sunday, before the international break. I am not reading much into a home win over a side that has now gone seven games without one. The Atlético game will say far more about whether Barcelona are really back.