Barcelona held by 10-man Alaves
Barcelona made it four La Liga games without a win on Saturday after failing to beat 10-man Alaves, a 1-1 draw leaving Ronald Koeman’s side sitting 12th in the table.
Luis Rioja put Alaves in front at Mendizorrotza after an error from Barca’s back-up goalkeeper Neto, with Antoine Griezmann equalising in the second half, a minute after Jota Peleteiro had been sent off.
But with almost half an hour left and an extra man, Barcelona were still unable to find a winner, instead settling for a draw to go with recent defeats by Getafe and Real Madrid, and another draw against Sevilla.
It means Madrid, who had earlier won 4-1 at home to Huesca, now sit eight points
clear of their Catalan rivals, having played a game more, while Atletico are six ahead after they beat Osasuna 3-1. Atletico will go top if they win their game in hand.
Even at this early stage in the title race, the gap is significant and Koeman will know the scrutiny on his position as coach will increase, particularly after the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu as president on Tuesday.
Bartomeu appointed Koeman coach in August and eight points from the first six league games is not the sort of form that will impress the next president and board, who should be voted in before the end of January.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Koeman. “Once again we haven’t played well enough to get a result. The first goal was a gift and then we created a lot of chances but didn’t take them.”
Eden Hazard earlier scored his first goal for Real Madrid in over a year and his team appear to have turned a corner after their comfortable win over Huesca.
“We know the quality that Eden has,” Zinedine Zidane said. “He scored a good goal and we needed it in the first half, because after his first goal the game was different.”