Three talking points as Barcelona prepare to face Deportivo Alaves in La Liga at Camp Nou | OneFootball

FC Barcelona have an important La Liga game today against Deportivo Alavés. This will be the club’s second match back at the Spotify Camp Nou, and the buzz has not died down yet.

Alavés are a stoic, defensive team that will not make life easy for Hansi Flick’s side. Barcelona secured an impressive 4–0 win last weekend, but undid that good work by going down to ten men and losing 0–3 to Chelsea.

Hansi Flick admitted after the game that the team was training well and that improvement was not far off. He even promised the fans that the team will be better in the coming weeks, and Alavés is a good place for Barcelona to start.

With all this in mind, here are three talking points as Barcelona prepare to face Alavés in La Liga at the Spotify Camp Nou.

Attitude and character

Barcelona lost 3–0 at Stamford Bridge midweek, but that is not what hurt the most. Losing football matches happens, but on that night, Hansi Flick’s men hardly competed, and that is not what this team is known for.

After going down to ten men, the game was undoubtedly difficult. However, the Barcelona of last season would have left everything on the pitch in a bid to secure at least a point, if not more.

Against Chelsea, it felt as though they conceded defeat long before the full-time whistle. Thus, one of the biggest things to look for against Alavés is the attitude and character that the XI on the field displays.

Barcelona cannot retreat into a shell or be psychologically affected on big nights. They need to recover the aura that made them such a menace last season, and that needs to start against Alavés later today.

One in, one out for Barcelona

One in, one out: that is the best way to describe Barcelona’s season in a phrase. Every time they have recovered one player from injury, someone else has been diagnosed with a spell on the treatment table.

For the Alavés game, Pedri is back and expected to play a few minutes from the bench. Unfortunately, Fermín López has now been diagnosed with a muscle injury and is set to miss a couple of weeks.

Without doubt, the 22-year-old Spanish attacking midfielder’s absence will hurt Barcelona. Fermín has been one of the most in-form players in Hansi Flick’s side this season, and they will sorely miss him.

On the flip side, the return of Pedri is perhaps even more important. We saw how much Barcelona suffered without the Canary Islander against Chelsea, and let us hope his injury issues do not resurface in the coming weeks.

A much-needed break for Ronald Araujo

Ahead of the Alavés game, it emerged that Ronald Araujo was at the training ground for two consecutive days after the Chelsea match but did not train with the group on either occasion.

Hansi Flick later confirmed that the Uruguayan had some stomach issues and would not be available for selection, but, at the risk of speculation, one wonders if his absence has to do with something bigger that happened in London than just a virus.

Irrespective of the reason, Araujo needs this break for a mental reset. He had a horrendous week due to his actions against the Blues, which once again let his team down, and the criticism must be weighing on him.

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Araujo in a Blaugrana shirt. Flick will have to be careful in how he handles the South American and how he helps build him back up, but it is bound to take time, and everyone involved needs to exercise patience.