Barcelona’s Record Bid Falls Short Against Alaves

Newly crowned champions or not, La Liga did not roll out a red carpet for Barcelona in Vitoria.

Hansi Flick’s side arrived with a mathematical shot at equalling the all-time league points record of 100. They left with that dream buried and Alaves breathing again in the relegation fight, beaten 1-0 by a team that simply refused to bow to the champions’ status.

Title hangover, Basque reality

The backdrop was pure celebration. Barcelona clinched back-to-back league titles with a Clasico win on Sunday, then paraded the trophy through the streets on an open-top bus on Monday. The mood around the club has been euphoric.

The performance at Mendizorroza looked exactly like that.

Flick rotated heavily, protecting legs and rewarding youth. Twenty-one-year-old centre-back Alvaro Cortes was handed his debut, one of several changes from the side that had outclassed Real Madrid. The structure remained recognisably Barcelona: long spells of possession, Marcus Rashford buzzing on the flank, the ball moving in familiar patterns.

The edge, though, belonged to Alaves.

Quique Sanchez Flores has spent weeks trying to drag his team away from the trapdoor. On this night, his players matched the occasion with an effort that was raw, frantic and utterly committed. They sat deep, closed spaces, and waited for the one moment that could tilt their season.

It came right on the stroke of half-time.

Diabate strikes, Barcelona switch off

As the first half ticked into stoppage time, Barcelona’s concentration finally cracked. A corner was swung in, Antonio Blanco rose and nodded it back towards goal. The visiting defence froze for a fatal heartbeat.

Ibrahim Diabate did not.

The forward pounced, drilling his finish past Wojciech Szczesny while the Barcelona back line reacted a beat too late. One lapse, one clean strike, and the champions were suddenly chasing a game they had largely controlled in sterile fashion.

Flick later pointed to the positives: the youngsters involved, the chance to manage minutes for key players, the understanding that Alaves were fighting for survival and would scrap for everything. On the pitch, though, the reality was simple. Barcelona had been caught cold at the worst possible time.

Alaves dig in, Barca run out of ideas

The second half opened with a warning that Alaves were not content to cling on and hope. Diabate again found space and drove in a shot that Szczesny had to push away, the goalkeeper keeping Barcelona within reach.

The champions, however, never truly found their usual incision. Possession remained theirs, but clear chances did not. Rashford’s energy on the wing gave Alaves something to think about, yet the final ball, the decisive movement, never consistently arrived.

At the other end, the hosts nearly killed the contest. Jon Guridi broke free and beat Szczesny with a low drive across goal, only to see his effort crash against the post. The rebound fell kindly for Barcelona, but the warning was brutal: this was not a routine end-of-season stroll.

Alaves, who started the night in the thick of the relegation scrap, climbed to 15th with the win, edging themselves out of the drop zone and injecting belief into a squad that has lived on nerves for months. For them, Diabate’s goal may yet be one of the defining moments of their season.

For Barcelona, the damage is purely statistical. The title is already secure. The record of 100 points will remain untouched. Flick, in his first season at the helm, will accept that trade-off if the freshness and rhythm of his key players hold through the final weeks.

The message from Vitoria, though, was clear: even champions don’t get freebies in a league where survival still hangs in the balance.

Sevilla roar back from the brink

Earlier in the day, another club fighting its own demons produced the comeback of the night.

Sevilla, dragged alarmingly close to the relegation zone in recent months, went two goals down inside 20 minutes away to high-flying Villarreal. Gerard Moreno struck first, Georges Mikautadze added the second, and the hosts, sitting third, looked ready to turn the afternoon into a procession.

Sevilla refused to fold.

Oso pulled one back, Kike Salas levelled before the interval, and suddenly the game flipped. The visitors, emboldened by the fightback, chased more than just a point.

In the 72nd minute, Akor Adams completed the turnaround, striking the winner that sealed a 3-2 victory and, perhaps, a shift in the club’s mood. It was Sevilla’s third consecutive win, lifting them up to 10th, four points clear of the drop for the time being.

All of it came in a week dominated by reports that former defender Sergio Ramos is close to leading a takeover of the club alongside an investment firm. On the pitch, at least, Sevilla offered a reminder that there is still life and pride in the current regime.

Salas captured the emotion simply: an indescribable feeling, paying back the fans who have stood through the storm.

Tears in Barcelona, but in blue and white

If Barcelona’s night in the Basque Country was about a missed record, Espanyol’s was about pure relief.

At home against Athletic Bilbao, the Catalan club finally snapped an 18-game run without a win, their first victory of 2026 arriving with a 2-0 scoreline that felt far heavier than the numbers suggest.

Pere Milla broke the deadlock after the break, Kike Garcia added a late second, and with that, Espanyol vaulted three points clear of the bottom three, up to 14th. On the touchline, coach Manolo Gonzalez could barely contain himself.

He later admitted the barren run had been one of the worst experiences of his professional and personal life. The tears in his eyes when Garcia’s goal hit the net told the same story, without a word.

There is no time for sentiment, though. Gonzalez was already looking ahead, demanding his team go to Pamplona and beat Osasuna on Sunday, insisting they cannot play it safe now. Momentum is fragile; he wants to ride it, not protect it.

Mallorca sink, Getafe dream

At the other end of the table, Mallorca’s situation darkened.

A 3-1 defeat at Getafe left them stranded in 17th, still staring anxiously over their shoulders. For Getafe, now seventh, the win did more than just tidy up their league position. It strengthened their push for a spot in the Conference League, a target that suddenly looks very real.

Across Spain, the storylines are diverging fast. Champions chasing records, strugglers clawing for breath, European hopefuls sensing opportunity.

On this night, Barcelona’s aura flickered, Alaves roared, Sevilla rose from the canvas, and Espanyol remembered what victory feels like. With the season narrowing to its final weeks, the question is no longer who holds the title.

It’s who will still be standing when the last whistle blows.