Barcelona vs Deportivo Alaves 19/08/18

19 August 2018

La Liga title holders, Barcelona, will kick-off the new league campaign in front of the home supporters, as they look to take on Deportivo Alaves at Camp Nou. The Catalan heavyweights have already won their first title in the new season, defeating Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup by two goals to one after coming back from a goal down, in a match that took place in Tangier last weekend. The Blaugrana also took part in the International Champions Cup this summer, but since Ernesto Valverde didn’t have almost his entire starting eleven at his disposal, Barcelona lost two games, to AC Milan and AS Roma, while their only victory came against Tottenham Hotspur only after a penalty shoot-out. Meanwhile, El Glorioso has participated in eight summer friendlies after having a pretty decent season in La Liga following last year’s promotion. However, Abelardo’s side failed to impress during the preparation period, achievingbarely two wins, over Real Oviedo and Real Sociedad, while drawing four times in the process. Numancia and Huesca were the two teams that have managed to achieve victories over the Basque-based side.

Denis Suarez, Sergi Samper, and Carles Alena won’t be at Valverde’s disposal following some nasty looking injuries they have picked up earlier in the summer, while Abelardo won’t be able to count on Carlos Vigaray, Rubén Duarte, Rodrigo Ely, and Gomez Perez Ibai.