Barcelona were far from flashy but got the job done and defeated Alavés 3–1 to spend the night as new La Liga leaders.
A nightmare start saw Alavés take the lead inside the first minute. But in his first start in over two months, Raphinha wreaked havoc and was the mastermind behind Lamine Yamal’s equalizer and Dani Olmo’s strike that gave the hosts the lead.
Olmo completed his brace in stoppage time to put an exclamation point on a victory that sees Barcelona overtake Real Madrid in the La Liga standings, with Xabi Alonso’s side now obligated to win in their trip to Girona on Sunday.
A win was desperately needed after the midweek debacle against Chelsea. In the second game at the renovated Camp Nou, Barcelona celebrated their 126th birthday with a much-deserved win.
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Lamine Yamal
Lamine Yamal scored his first career goal at the Camp Nou. / Manuel Queimadelos/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
*Ratings provided by FotMob*
GK: Joan García—7.4: A sensational save to keep the game level gave Barcelona the opportunity to take the lead shortly after. It can’t be overstated how much his side missed him during his time on the sidelines.
RB: Eric García—6.7: Was rarely involved and, unfortunately for him, a blow to the face that resulted in his half-time substitution was the highlight of his night.
CB: Pau Cubarsí—7.3: A quiet night for the teenager who’ll gladly take it after a couple of nervy performances.
CB: Gerard Martín—7.9: Another very impressive center back shift from the La Masia graduate. His pace was key for Barça to defend transitions and, distribution-wise, he was near flawless.
LB: Alejandro Balde—8.0: Raphinha’s return directly influenced Balde, who flew up and down the left wing all night and didn’t put a foot wrong defensively.
DM: Marc Bernal—6.1: Bernal looked rusty in his first start in over a year, misplacing routine passes and arriving late to a couple of challenges which led to his booking.
CM: Marc Casadó—7.1: An efficient outing from the young midfielder who was routinely involved in build-up and monopolizing possession in the second half. We finally saw the 2024–25 version of Casadó.
RW: Lamine Yamal—9.4: Perfect response following his Stamford Bridge struggles. He made a mockery of any defender who tried to contain him and ended the game with a goal and an assist.
AM: Dani Olmo—9.3: His best performance of the season by a mile. He created the most chances (5) of any player on the pitch and bagged more goals in one night than he had scored all season.
LW: Raphinha—7.6: Welcome back, Raphinha! Was at the heart of Barcelona’s first half comeback, looked energized and didn’t miss a beat in his first start since late September.
ST: Robert Lewandowski—7.8: Wasn’t as involved as he probably would’ve liked but his hold up play helped create attacks. His accidental deflection allowed him to collect his first assist of the season.
Substitutes Rating (Out of 10)
Marcus Rashford (46’ for Bernal) 6.6
Jules Koundé (46’ for García) 6.7
Ferran Torres (60’ for Lewandowski) 6.0
Pedri (60’ for Raphinha) 7.4
Andreas Christensen (84’ for Cubarsí) N/A
Subs not used : Diego Kochen (GK), Wojciech Szczęsny (GK), Roony Bardghji, Jofre Torrents, Tommy Marques, Dro Fernández.
Alavés (4-1-4-1)
Starting XI : Antonio Sivera; Jonny Otto, Nahuel Tenaglia, Jon Pacheco, Víctor Parada; Antonio Blanco; Calebe, Denis Suárez, Pablo Ibáñez, Abde Rebbach; Lucas Boyé.
Subs used : Carles Aleñá, Carlos Vicente, Ander Guevara, Jon Guridi, Antonio Martínez.
Player of the Match: Lamine Yamal
Dani Olmo
Dani Olmo scored his second goal of the term. / Rico Brouwer/Soccrates/Getty Images
Needing to bounce back after their dreadful performance midweek, Barcelona couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. Marc Casadó made a mess of his attempted clearance from a corner, deflecting the ball towards the back post where another contact allowed Pablo Ibáñez to tap-in the opener just 50 seconds into the match.
Flick’s men responded well and immediately started applying the pressure. A crafty play from Alejandro Balde and Raphinha allowed the Brazilian to play a cut-back that crossed the penalty area for Yamal to bury Barcelona’s equalizer still inside 10 minutes.
But Barça dropped the intensity after finding the equalizer and Alavés grew back into the game. A trademark counter-attack against Barcelona’s high line resulted in a square ball for Jonny Otto, who fired from short range and forced Joan García to pull off one of the saves of the season to keep the game level.
One minute later, Raphinha got in behind once again and played another perfect cut-back for a charging Olmo who placed his shot into the bottom corner to score his first goal for Barça in over two moths to put the host in front before half-time.
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— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 29, 2025
The hosts put the game on ice in the second half with long, sustained passages of possession that prompted noticeable exhaustion from Alavés players.
The third goal seem to elude the Catalans, but the biggest cheer of the second half came when the recently re-introduced Raphinha exited the match to make way for the returning Pedri, who played his first minutes since the El Clásico defeat a month ago.
Alavés made a final push in the final 10 minutes of the game, tilting the pitch in their favor and asking questions of Barcelona’s backline. Nerves invaded Camp Nou in the dying minutes but Yamal and Olmo took matters into their own hands and in a lightning fast transition, the former assisted the latter who tucked in his brace to secure all three points.
Statistic Barcelona Alavés
Possession 63% 37%
Expected Goals (xG) 1.10 1.37
Total Shots 7 7
Shots on Target 2 3
Big Chances 3 4
Pass Accuracy 90% 80%
Fouls 7 8
Corners 1 2
Statistic Barcelona Alavés
Possession 69% 31%
Expected Goals (xG) 2.21 1.53
Total Shots 18 9
Shots on Target 6 3
Big Chances 4 4
Pass Accuracy 89% 76%
Fouls 10 17
Corners 5 4
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