Barcelona 0 - Alavés 1

Barcelona: Arnau; Abelardo, Reiziger; Puyol, Xavi, Zenden; Litmanen, Cocu; Simao, Kluivert, Rivaldo. 2-3-2-3.
Alavés: Herrera; Morales, Téllez, Eggen, Torres Mestre; Pablo, Desio; Nan Ribera, Azkoitia, Ibon Begoña; Javi Moreno. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Barcelona: Reiziger, Simao for Bogarde, Figo / Alavés: Eggen, Torres Mestre, Azkoitia, Begoña, Javi Moreno for Contra, Karmona, Josete, Magno, Kodro.

Goals:
0-1. 15. Nan Ribera. Shoots past Arnau after Javi Moreno pass beats offside trap.

Barcelona's disastrous week continues, and after drawing at Espanyol and failing to score at home against a second division B side Ourense in the cup, they were beaten by a side whose annual budget is only a fraction of the Catalan club's multi-million Dollar operation. Alavés have learned since their 7-1 defeat last season however, and manager Mané packed the midfield with five players to smother Barcelona's creative play, with Azkoitia marking Xavi out of the game. Still it should not have been a problem for the home team, especially since the Vitoria side were without Karmona, Contra and Salinas, all suspended after clashing with the referee in their last match against Valencia, with Dan Eggen making a rare appearance in defence. True Barcelona were also without two of their most inspirational players, Figo and Luis Enrique, also suspended, but Simao has been a reasonable substitute for the first and Litmanen is keeping the second out of the starting line up anyway. At half time Van Gaal decided to replace Abelardo and Litmanen with Bogarde and Ronald De Boer, but he did not change his game plan and the new faces did not fare much better, and even when he brought on Dani for Simao later in the half, the striker was asked to play in Simao's position on the right wing. Up to a point the home side were unlucky, with Cocu and Kluivert both wasting opportunities in the first half, and Ronald De Boer and Kluivert hitting the woodwork in the second half. However with one of the best goalkeepers in the league, Herrera, keeping them at bay, Mané allowed himself the luxury of bringing on more attacking players Kodro, Magno and Astudillo in the second half. There is a saying in Spain that the crisis in football is a frequent user of the Madrid-Barcelona air bridge, and that when it disappears from one club it passes over to the other. Thankfully for Louis Van Gaal, Madrid were also beaten this weekend, which took the pressure off a bit, but on recent form Barcelona will not be holding up the league winner's trophy for the third time at the end of this season. After the game fans waved their hankies in the air, a sure sign of protest in Spain, and asked for the heads of president Nuñez and Van Gaal. Rumours that the manager has prepared a list of transferable players for next season including local idols Guardiola, Luis Enrique and Sergi did not help, although Van Gaal's angry denial seemed to quieten nerves a little. With a couple of wins it may all be forgotten again, but right now Barcelona are 'in crisis'. They are still third however, and are well placed in the Champions League and the Spanish cup, but fans expect more. Alavés meanwhile move up to fifth in the league, their highest ever place, and have taken maximum points from their two games with Barcelona this season. Mané may well be given the keys to the town of Vitoria.

Rayo Vallecano 1 - Celta 0

Rayo: Keller; Cota, Clotet, Hernández, Alcázar; Ferrón, Pablo Sanz, Helder, Llorens; Michel I; Canabal. 4-4-1-1.
Celta: Pinto; Velasco, Cáceres, Sergio, Vivas; Makelele, Giovanella, Karpin, Gustavo López; Hoogendorp, McCarthy. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Rayo: Cota, Ferrón, Michel I for Amaya, Estibariz, Cembranos / Celta: Velasco, Hoogendorp for Tomás, Mostovoi.

Goals:
1-0. 26. Ferrón. spectacular first time volley from Michel's cross.

Rayo Vallecano got their first win in four matches to move back up in contention for one of the European places this year. Their small pitch is proving a bonus to them, and Celta's concerns about whether they could play their natural wide game forced Víctor Fernández to change his usual 4-2-3-1 line up to a squarer 4-4-2, with Hoogendorp making his first start joining McCarthy up front. He did have an unexpected surprise when he came to name his team however. With left backs Juanfran and Bergés still out, Vivas not yet fully settled in and makeshift fullback Tomás not really comfortable, he wanted to name Djorovic to move across out wide. However the Yugoslavian central defender did a 'Rivaldo', refusing to play in the left back position, and Fernández was forced to leave him out and play Vivas in his place, with Velasco returning from suspension on the right hand side. Rayo's Luis Cembranos and Bolo failed late fitness tests, and new signing Mark Draper got his first start in place of Pablo Sanz in midfield. Under 21 international Jordi Ferrón did enough last week to get his place back in the side, and he proved to be the star of the match, scoring a superb goal and getting involved in most of Rayo's attacking moves. Celta were not in the game at all in the first half, and their first shot of the match only came twenty minutes from the end, Keller saving well from substitute Gustavo López. Three minutes from time Poschner reappeared for Rayo, his first appearance after breaking his leg nine weeks ago. Rayo move up to ninth, level with Valencia and Real Madrid, and only two points behind Celta who hold on to fourth place despite the defeat.