Barcelona beat Alavés 6-1 at Spotify Camp Nou to go back to the top of LaLiga. The win came with a reshuffled defence and sets up a meeting of the top two at the Metropolitano.

Atlético Madrid had gone top of LaLiga earlier on 31 October by winning at Levante. Within hours, Barcelona took the place back. Hansi Flick’s side dismantled Alavés in front of their own fans. The result ended a two-game losing run after defeats to PSG and Real Madrid.

Barcelona have scored 46 goals and conceded 12, a goal difference of +34, according to the official LaLiga table. Atlético have scored 22 and conceded 8.

This was Barcelona’s first test since the Clásico. Real Madrid won that game 2-1 at Camp Nou on 25 October. Kylian Mbappé scored twice, the second in the 87th minute, after Raphinha had equalised on 61 minutes. That defeat ended a run of nine straight league wins at the start of the season.

Barcelona led 4-0 at the break against Alavés

Raphinha opened the scoring in the 8th minute. Fermín López added a second in the 23rd. Raphinha struck again in the 41st, and Lamine Yamal made it four in first-half stoppage time. Barcelona held 77% of the ball, in front of a crowd of 53,523.

Yamal’s second goal, in the 64th minute, was first ruled out for offside. A VAR review showed his run was onside. He was taken off to a standing ovation soon afterwards, with Gordon replacing him.

The former Newcastle winger scored in the 81st minute, his first league goal for the club. He ran on to a through ball from Rodri and chipped the goalkeeper. Mariano Díaz pulled one back for Alavés in the 84th minute.

Absences forced Flick to rebuild his back four

Absences left Flick short at the back. Fariñas started at right-back and played the full 90 minutes. Frenkie de Jong moved to centre-back alongside Cubarsí. João Cancelo completed the back four at left-back. Gerard Martín replaced De Jong in the 82nd minute.

Fariñas is normally a midfielder. He is from the Valencian Community and joined Barcelona as an under-14 player in 2018. He had some experience of the role, spending almost half an hour at right-back in a 2-2 pre-season draw with Birmingham City on 31 July.

Fariñas said Flick had asked whether he could play there, and that he felt nervous at first before settling into the game.

The schedule now tightens. Barcelona host Aston Villa in the fourth round of Champions League league-phase games at Spotify Camp Nou on Tuesday 3 November, kicking off at 21:00 local time.