Barcelona 1-2 Alaves: Messi, Suarez and Iniesta powerless to stop loss By Lewis Dean
Last Updated: 11/09/16 12:00am
Newly-promoted Alaves shocked La Liga champions Barcelona with a stunning 2-1 victory at the Nou Camp on Saturday night. Deyverson gave the visitors a surprise lead in the 39th minute with a predatory finish at the near post after stealing a march on Javier Mascherano and getting on the end of Kika Femenia’s superb cross. Barca struggled to find any rhythm in the first half but found their way back in the game when defender Jeremy Mathieu rose to head a Neymar corner past Fernando Pacheco soon after the break. The French defender should have scored a second minutes later when the ball bounced his way seven yards out but he thrashed a wild volley wide of the post.
Luis Enrique threw on Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta - who alongside first-team regulars Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba started on the bench - in search of a winner, but it was Alaves who found their own. Ibai Gomez pounced on a Mascherano mistake in the 64th minute to slot past debutant goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and send the 300 travelling supporters into animated celebrations. The victory means Alaves remain unbeaten after drawing 2-2 with Atletico Madrid on the opening day of the season and claiming a 0-0 stalemate with Sporting Gijon.
Barcelona meanwhile looked a shadow of the team that put six past Real Betis in their league opener and fall three points behind rivals Real Madrid, who eased to a 5-2 victory over Osasuna earlier in the day.
The match started with the unusual sight of a star-studded substitutes bench consisting of Messi, Suarez, Iniesta and Alba as Enrique shuffled his pack after the international break and perhaps with one eye on the midweek Champions League clash with Celtic.
He instead relied on Sergio Busquets, making his 250th La Liga appearance for the club, to help pull the strings alongside Ivan Rakatic behind Neymar.
The gamble backfired when Deyverson silenced the Nou Camp but the lead almost evaporated as soon as it came but Neymar could only head wide from seven yards out when the net should have bulged.
Rakitic then found a yard of space inside the visitors' box from an Arda Turan cushioned header but the Croatian lashed his left-footed effort high and wide.
The second half brought with it an improvement in Barcelona's performance but neither that nor the introduction of their superstars could deny Alaves a famous victory 10 years since they were last in the top flight.
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