Deportivo Alaves host Barcelona at the Estadio Mendizorrotza on Saturday. They will be hoping luck shines on them and that they can maintain their unbeaten run as they have not lost any of their last three matches; they will be hoping to extend that to four this weekend.
They have a tough mountain to climb on Saturday though as they face one of the strongest teams in the league, and they will have to be incredibly disciplined and be at their best to get anything from the fixture. Although they are currently on a three-match unbeaten run, they have only won one of their last five matches, drawing three and losing one.
They currently occupy the twelfth position on the log, which is a good place for them considering that they are just a newly promoted side. They are far from being a relegation threatened team and are closer to European places than to the relegation waters. They sit fourteen points above the relegation zone and eight points below Villarreal, who currently occupy the last European spot.
The first leg meeting between them and Barcelona at the Camp Nou ended in an unexpected upset, with Alaves leaving with all maximum points. The result of the last meeting will provide some impetus for Los Babazorros and give them some confidence that if they could do it on Barcelona's home ground, then they should be able to do it on their own home ground. Their last match was against Sporting Gijon last weekend, and it ended in a 4-2 victory for them.
Barcelona will be travelling to Alaves' stadium on a revenge mission. They lost the first leg to them and now have an opportunity to reassert their superiority. The Catalans are not having a particularly brilliant season by their standards; they have had some unfavourable results, a loss to their Saturday opponents being one of them, but they are still within touching distance of the league summit currently occupied by Real Madrid.
They currently hold the second position on the table, one point behind league leaders Real Madrid, who have two games in hand. Even though they have only lost two matches all season, they have drawn six, which is where the bulk of their issues have come from. Their last game was at the Camp Nou last weekend against Athletic Bilbao which they won 3-0. They have won three of their last four matches and look very good for this one. They have also not lost in their last fourteen games and a win this weekend will extend the run to fifteen.
Both teams have met seventeen times in the past, with Barcelona unsurprisingly dominating the outcomes. Barcelona have won eleven of the games and drawn two while Alaves have just four wins. Out of the last six times both teams have met, Barcelona have won five times, the only loss being the one they suffered earlier in the season.
Alaves have their full squad available for the tie, with the only doubt being Edgar Mendez. Iniesta and Busquets are expected to be back for Barcelona.
Alaves will be hoping for a repeat of the result of the first leg, but the truth is that Barcelona will be more determined to get their revenge and their quality will be too much for Alaves to handle. Over 2.5 goals is also a strong possibility.