LaLiga Hangover: Boring? Predictable? Alaves Shock Barcelona to Expose Fallacies

They had to score the winning goal twice, but that they did only served to highlight the extent of what it was that they'd done.

Having gone ahead, they'd resisted, had been pulled back, had almost gone behind and had been denied by a matter of inches, but here they were, still going. A long punt upfield led to a botched clearance and a scrap; the ball pinballed around for a second before Ibai Gomez emerged, running through Barcelona, boldly taking them on, just as Alaves had done all night. His strike, low and crisp, beat the outstretched hand of Jasper Cillessen. Barcelona 1, Alaves 2. And that was how it would stay. 

LaLiga: Boring? Predictable? Uncompetitive?

Not even close. 

Deportivo Alaves have been back in the Primera Division for three matches, and already they have four points from trips to the Camp Nou and the Vicente Calderon. It shouldn't really be possible, but here they are with them anyway. 

This is a club that has been away from this level for a decade; that in those 10 seasons away spent five near the bottom of the Segunda Division and four in the one below; that in its history has spent more time in the third tier than the first; that has been through financial turmoil, administration and the tyrannical lunacy of Dmitry Piterman; that has been on the edge of nowhere. But not now.

"Everything is possible in football," manager Mauricio Pellegrino said on Saturday night. 

His side are showing it. 

Alaves are undefeated in their return to LaLiga and have now claimed the biggest scalp of all, becoming the latest to expose the fallacies and lazy generalisations made about Spain's top flight.

Three years ago, Joaquin Caparros, while managing Levante, famously said going to the Camp Nou was like going to the dentist. If Barcelona's surgical precision at the time made it feel as such, their explosive capacity now makes it more like a trip to the amputation ward. Prior to Saturday, Barcelona had lost only four league games at home in Luis Enrique's entire tenure and only seven in the last seven seasons combined.

But Alaves left more than just intact. If the Basques had been somewhat fortunate at the Calderon against Atletico on the opening weekend—and Pellegrino admitted they were—they weren't so here.

Wearing a pink that evoked memories of that famous shirt from 2001, the side affectionately known as El Glorioso were meticulous with their defensive organisation, closing down Barcelona's players with urgency, pressuring them and unafraid to get physical. In a 5-4-1 setup, they expanded and contracted their shape with the assurance of a team that knew exactly what they were doing, and when the ball was won, it was the same story. 

Barcelona might have enjoyed almost 75 per cent of the possession, per WhoScored.com, but the shot-on-target count was telling: Barcelona 2, Alaves 4.

From an impressive foundation, Deyverson gave the visitors a focal point, with Gomez, Edgar Mendez, Kiko Femenia and Theo Hernandez giving width and support on the break. Both goals featured exquisite finishes, and the first—which came from a throw-in following a sharp, incisive counter-attack through Barcelona's press that unfolded like a wave, one man joining after another—was a perfect illustration of a night's work.

"A 'Glorioso' day," said Marca. 

The elation in Madrid wasn't surprising, and nor was the frustration in Catalonia. "Whack," read the cover of Mundo Deportivo. For Barcelona, it wasn't just that they conceded two but that they were so blunt going the other way. Heavy rotation was a factor, sure, but this was still Barcelona—a Barcelona that still featured Neymar, Arda Turan, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Denis Suarez and more. 

"We didn't create our usual chances, and Alaves were very effective with their opportunities," said Enrique. That surprised Pellegrino, too: "We expected them to create more danger from open play." His team's excellence was the reason they didn't. "This will stand us in good stead," Pellegrino added.

He's right, and that goes for the league, too. 

This was a big weekend for LaLiga. In inaugurating its new 1 p.m. kick-off time on Saturday that signalled the beginning of its bid to compete with the Premier League for an international TV audience, the league will have been aware that extra eyeballs were on it this weekend. It wasn't the be-all, end-all, but there was a symbolic element to the round, entertainment necessary.

And that's what it served up. 

In addition to Alaves toppling Barcelona, there were seven goals scored at the Bernabeu, five at Mestalla and four at Balaidos. At the second of those, Valencia fought back from 0-2 down to get to 2-2 with 10 men, only for Real Betis to score in the game's dying moments. It was one of three last-minute winners in a single round, the others grabbed by Sevilla and Eibar in dramatic fashion—the supposedly unique quality that only exists in a certain league elsewhere, or so they tell us. 

It's not just this weekend, either. Just three weeks in, this season in LaLiga has already featured scorelines of 6-4, 6-2, 5-2, 5-1, 4-2 and 3-2; has already seen tiny Leganes take a historic point from Atletico; has witnessed Las Palmas score nine times in their opening two games; has seen Alaves do the unthinkable at the Calderon and the Camp Nou; has featured eight equalisers or winners after the 85th minute. 

And this isn't anything new. 

The boring charge thrown at LaLiga is tiresome, primarily for the fact it's blatantly untrue. The league has its flaws commercially and in an organisational sense, but for years now, Spain has been home to the best and some of the most entertaining football in Europe.

"The Spanish league's the best by far," Paul Scholes wrote in an extract from the new book Class of 92, as relayed by the Guardian.  

The evidence for that is seen in European competition. Spanish clubs have claimed five of the last eight Champions League titles and eight of the last 13 in the Europa League. More than that, Spanish clubs have won 18 of their last 20 European ties with English opponents, and when last season's European semi-finals arrived, they'd won 45 of 48 ties with any foreign opposition.

But the two-team slander still persists despite it missing the point. Though Barcelona and Real Madrid rule, their dominance is not a reflection of the standard of their opponents but instead a reflection of their own. These are the biggest and most powerful clubs on the planet—bring Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Burnley and Hull City to Spain, and they'll get crushed, too.

It's why Atletico's rise has been so astonishing; why Athletic Bilbao's capture of the Spanish Super Cup last season was so cherished; why the fights regularly put up by the likes of Athletic, Sevilla, Valencia, Celta Vigo, Villarreal and others in their meetings with the giants are so impressive. 

Throughout LaLiga, there's diversity and contrast that should be embraced rather than shunned. More than anything, though, there's rich entertainment and intense competitiveness to be found. 

Just ask Barcelona. Just look at Alaves—back from despair, tiny, undefeated after trips to the giants, riding high with historic points in hand. 

Not Forgotten Amid the Hangover

• Antoine Griezmann had made it clear he wasn't happy, so he went and did something about it. At Balaidos, the Frenchman assisted the first and scored the second and the third in Atletico's 4-0 rout of Celta Vigo. This was more like it from Atleti and Diego Simeone, who ditched the ultra-conservative midfield for one that featured Koke, Saul Niguez and Yannick Carrasco, even though Simeone insisted his team's setup wasn't any different. "The structure of our team has been the same in all three games," said Simeone. "This time the goals went in." The second part is true; the first isn't—not quite. But Atleti are now off and running. At last. 

• Speaking of those Griezmann comments: 

• For most of Saturday afternoon, Real Madrid had one of those sleepy-feeling affairs in the capital in which nothing much feels as though it's happening but scored five anyway. That's 15 straight wins in the league for Madrid now, equalling a club record from 1960-61. 

• Luka Modric doing Cruyff turns will never get old, and it's made even better by the hairstyle and the sense he'd be a bloody good bloke to have a beer with. "He's a lovely lad," said Zinedine Zidane. 

• Cristiano Ronaldo needed only six minutes to get off the mark this season, but he looks weird in short sleeves. 

• Goal of the Week goes to Osasuna's David Garcia, who beat Kiko Casilla with a looping header while facing the wrong way. Is that a reverse header? Back-header? Backward-facing dog? We don't know, but it was brilliant. 

• Raul Garcia. Wow. 

• Marcelino might be gone, but Villarreal are still Villarreal.

• Valencia, well. *Puffs cheeks out.* Zero points from nine. Watch. This. Space. 

• After Real Betis' slow start across the opening two rounds, manager Gus Poyet had told Radio Marca (h/t Football Espana) that his side had "200,000 things to improve." After a 3-2 win at Mestalla in which Betis went 2-0 up but found themselves hanging on against 10 men before pinching it in added time, Poyet might still have 200,000 problems. But Valencia ain't one. 

• Munir was really good on debut for Valencia. In an enjoyable little quirk, following his loan move from Barcelona, it was his second league game of the season, and both of them have come against Betis. 

• Las Palmas were desperately unlucky not to make it three wins on the bounce on Saturday. In now-characteristic fashion, the islanders controlled the opening half against Sevilla and went ahead through a lovely goal from Tana. But Sevilla won a dubious penalty in the 89th minute to equalise, which was followed by Carlos Fernandez bundling the ball over the line from a corner with the last kick of the game. 

• After starting with what functioned as a bonkers 2-1-5-2, Sevilla have settled into more conventional systems in their last two games. Against Villarreal before the break, manager Jorge Sampaoli used a 4-1-3-2, and he opted for a 4-1-4-1 against Las Palmas. 

• Sporting Gijon spent 45 minutes battering Leganes at El Molinon on Sunday, only to spend the next 45 receiving something similar. So unaccustomed to such dominance, it was although Sporting weren't quite sure what to do with it. Still, that's two wins from three for Abelardo's men and five straight wins at home dating back to last season. 

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