PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Alavés

Camp Nou comes back to life on Saturday with Ronald Koeman's team looking to put the Copa del Rey setback against Sevilla behind them and return their focus to the league. Alavés will be attempting to end Barça's unbeaten 2021 in La Liga. 

The two teams meet in Week 23 in La Liga and the blaugranes will be looking for seventh successive win in the league. Their opponents from Vitoria in the Basque Country will be looking to pick up points for the third game in a row. 

Opponents

Coach: Abelardo. The Asturian born former Barça player has never beaten his former club as a coach in seven meetings with six defeats and a draw his record at the moment. 

Strangely enough, the two coaches, Pitu Abelardo and Ronald Koeman, played together in the centre of the Barça defence in the 1994/95 season. 

Goalscorers: Joselu, with five goals, is Alavés' top scorer in the league followed by Lucas Pérez on four and Edgar Méndez on three. 

League table: The team nicknamed 'El Glorioso' are in 16th place in the table on 22 points, two points above the relegation zone. In their last game they took a 1-0 over struggling Valladolid to end a run of six games without a win. 

The squad

The big news is the returns of Sergiño Dest and Miralem Pjanić, who have both been declared fit.

History in Barça's favour

• Since a 2-1 defeat at Camp Nou in the 2016/17 season, in the league Barça are unbeaten in eight games against Alavés with a record of seven wins and a draw. 
• At Camp Nou Barça have won 12 of 15 encounters between the two sides in La Liga. 

Ronald Koeman on Saturday's game 

"We went to maintain our run of wins in La Liga," said the Barça coach in his press conference ahead of Saturday's date against Alavés. A win against Abelardo's team would be victory number seven in a row in the Spanish League.