Alaves stun Barcelona to halt title winners streak and climb out of LaLiga drop zone

Alaves came out aggressively from the start which was expected since Barcelona had already secured the league championship in their last match and rotated eight players in the starting eleven.

Ibrahim Diabate created the initial chance just a minute in followed by several near misses for the away side. However finishing was poor for both teams as despite combining for nine shots by the thirtieth minute none found the target.

Robert Lewandowski and Marcus Rashford were not at their best for the Spanish champions leading to too much action crammed in midfield and reducing the excitement overall.

In comparison the home team desperately required all three points to avoid the relegation places so their intensity made sense although it was only at the stroke of halftime that they finally beat Wojciech Szczesny with Diabate shrugging off Marc Bernal to smash in a superb volley for the lead.

Szczesny needed to stay sharp early in the second period saving a firm downward header from Diabate with a strong double fisted stop.

Nevertheless Alaves switched to a back five highlighting their focus on securing a shutout their first in 21 matches.

In the final fifteen minutes Barcelona dominated pushing Alaves deep into their territory but despite their efforts the visitors defence held firm preventing any goals and snapping the Catalans eleven match winning run in the league.

For Alaves this marked their first victory against Barcelona in eight years across 18 encounters lifting them to fifteenth in the standings with two fixtures remaining.