Flick: Yamal must forget Chelsea performance

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has encouraged Lamine Yamal to forget about his performance against Chelsea, ahead of their LaLiga fixture against Alaves.

The Blues beat Barca 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League in midweek, with Ronald Araujo also receiving a red card during the defeat.

Yamal registered just one shot in the match and completed four of his 10 dribbles, though he did win 12 of his 17 duels and created a team-high two chances.

But with Estevao scoring at the other end, the 18-year-old was kept largely quiet by compatriot Marc Cucurella before being substituted in the 80th minute.

Flick insisted Yamal is not hung on his performance, and urged the winger to show his quality against Alaves on Saturday.

"Lamine's mood is good," the Barca coach said in his press conference. "A lot of players, when we change them, they are not happy. I was also a player and, maybe sometimes, I did not show the right reaction, but it's like that. It's emotion.

"For me, Cucurella is one of the best left-backs in the world. It's not easy to play him, he's very smart, very intelligent in the defence.

"The next step now for Lamine is to show again it's not about this match, forget it. Alaves is now the important thing, and he has to show his best performance, his best level."

Fermin Lopez has been sidelined for two weeks with a calf injury, while Araujo is also set to miss out with a stomach bug.

However, Pedri is set to make his return for Barca, with Raphinha and Marcus Rashford also available to start after they were on the bench against Chelsea.

"I have really missed Rapha," Flick added. "I see him as one of the most important players in the team, with the philosophy we have and how we want to play.

"He's a big positive in our game when we defend, when we start the pressing. But also in transition, he's unbelievably good.

"It's not for nothing he scored so many goals last season. He has the hunger to show how good he is this season again after a fantastic year last season."

Alaves are currently 14th in LaLiga after back-to-back 1-0 defeats against Celta Vigo and Girona.

They have won just once in their last five league games, a 2-1 victory over Espanyol on November 2.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Barcelona – Robert Lewandowski

Lewandowski has scored seven goals in just four LaLiga appearances against Alaves.

Only against Valencia (nine) and Celta de Vigo (eight) has he netted more times in the competition.

Alaves – Toni Martinez

Martinez has been involved in more duels (167) than any other player in LaLiga this season, while his 88 duels won are the fourth-most by a forward across Europe's top five leagues.

The 28-year-old has scored two goals and provided one assist in the Spanish top-flight this term.

MATCH PREDICTION – BARCELONA WIN

Barca have scored in each of their last 33 LaLiga games (88 goals), their best scoring run in the competition since February 2019, under Ernesto Valverde (37 games, 99 goals).

They have also scored in 18 of their 19 home LaLiga matches against Alaves (57 goals in total), failing to score in just one of them: a 1-0 defeat in February 2000.

Barca have won 13 and drawn two of their last 15 LaLiga matches against Alaves (since a 2-1 defeat in September 2016); their longest unbeaten run against the Vitoria side in the competition.

Alaves have lost 79% of their away LaLiga matches against Barcelona (G19 W2 D2 L15). Only against Real Madrid (89.5% - P19 W2 D0 L17) do they have a higher percentage of away defeats in the competition against teams they have faced at least six times.

However, they could pose a threat from set-pieces. Only Athletic Club (67% - eight of 12) have scored a higher proportion of their LaLiga goals this season from set-pieces than Alaves (64% - seven of 11).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Barcelona – 74.5%

Draw – 14.9%

Alaves – 10.7%