The lowdown on Alavés

FC Barcelona are at home to Alavés this Sunday. Let’s take a closer look at the team that are back in the first division just one year after suffering the drop.

Where are they from?

Alavés are from the picturesque city of Vitoria (or Gasteiz in Basque), which may not be as large as Bilbao or San Sebastián but is considered the de facto capital of the region because this is where all the major political institutions are based. The team itself are named not after the city, but after the province and historical region of Álava (or Araba in Basque).

History

Although football had been played in the city since the turn of the century, it was not until 1921 that a team called by the English name of Sport Friends opted to form an official society, known from then onwards as Deportivo Alavés.

As well as the self-explanatory El Glorioso, Alavés are also known as the Babazorros, a Basque expression meaning ‘bean-sacks’. Though originally used to mock the people of this region, who would allegedly eat beans with everything, the club now uses the name with pride.

This is the club’s sixth different spell in the top flight, after they gained promotion last season at the first time of asking after losing their Liga status in 2022.

Although they have never won any major honours, they came close on two famous occasions. In one of the most dramatic European nights ever, Liverpool looked to have had the 2001 UEFA Cup Final done and dusted with a 3-1 lead at half-time. But the Basques battled back. Jordi Cruyff’s late header meant it ended 4-4 to send the game into golden goal extra time, where Delfí Geli’s own goal meant the cup was headed for Merseyside.

In 2017 they reached another final, this time of the Copa del Rey. Despite a spirited start against Barça, they ended up being outclassed to the tune of a 3-1 defeat.

Head to head

Last 5 meetings (all la Liga)
23/01/22 Alavés 0-1 Barça
30/10/21 Barça 1-1 Alavés
13/02/21 Barça 5-1 Alaves
31/10/20 Alaves 1-1 Barça
19/07/20 Alaves 0-5 Barça

Since a shock 2-1 win for Alavés at Camp Nou in 2016, Barça are unbeaten in eleven games against the Basques in LaLiga, including 6-0 and 5-0 wins at Mendizorrotza and 5-1 and 4-1 wins at Camp Nou. In 17 meetings in total, Barça have only failed to score against Alavés once, another unexpected home defeat, this time 1-0, back in 2011.

But the two exceptions have come recently. The sides drew 1-1 at Spotify Camp Nou in 2021, and by the same score in Vitoria a year earlier.

And we need to look out for Luis Rioja. He has visited FC Barcelona twice before and scored both times.

Season so far

Two major scalps in Valencia and Sevilla early in the season got Alavés off to a nice enough start, but they were on a run of seven games without a win until they finally chalked up another victory, last weekend, 1-0 over bottom-of-the-table Almería. That result has pulled them out of the relegation zone, but they come to Estadi Olímpic still in search of their first Liga win the road.

Alavés have already started their Copa del Rey journey, a thumping 10-0 win at the home of lower-league outfit Deportivo Murcia.

The players

International caps

Ianis Hagi (Romania, 29), Jesús Owono (Equatorial Guinea, 17), Aleksandar Sedlar (Serbia, 2), Nikola Maraš (Serbia, 2), Antonio Blanco (Spain, 1),

Barça Collections
Ianis Hagi, who joined from Rangers last summer, is the son of the Barça and Romania star of the 1990s, Gheorghe Hagi.

Injuries
Giuliano Simeone, the son of Atlético manager Diego, has yet to play this season due to injury, and centre back Aleksandar Sedlar, who scored the winner last week against Almería, was injured later in the game and is probably out for the season.

The boss

A product of the Atlético Madrid youth system who never played football at a particularly high level, Luis García Plaza then went into management. Last season was the third time he had managed a team to promotion into La Liga, having previously achieved the same with Levante and Mallorca.