Alaves in a sentence

He was diagnosed with heart problems while at Barcelona which came to the fore when he left the field, holding his chest, during Barcelona’s match against Alaves in the Spanish league on Oct 30, 2021.

Alaves took an early lead when Javi Galan committed a foolish handball to block Carlos Vicente’s cross.

Elsewhere, second-to-last Valencia salvaged a 2-2 home draw with Alaves, thanks to a goal by Dani Gomez eight minutes into second-half stoppage time after the visitors had taken the lead with Joan Jordan in the 88th.

For Alaves, the defeat continues their difficult away form, marking their sixth consecutive loss on the road and leaving them precariously positioned three points above the relegation zone.

Joselu struggled during his time at St James’ Park with seven goals in 52 appearances before joining Alaves for £2.5million in 2019.

The Rangers midfielder is on loan at La Liga side Alaves for the season having been allowed to leave the club under Michael Beale.

Alaves midfielder Jota was sent off in the 62nd minute for a second booking and Antoine Griezmann levelled moments later, and though Barca kept on pouring forward they failed to take their flurry of late chances.

Chinese striker Wu Lei, who tested positive for coronavirus in March, scored on his first game back on Saturday as Espanyol sealed a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Alaves in La Liga.

He made 66 La Liga appearances for Alaves, including 16 this season.

It was from another such Alaves breakaway that Barca found themselves trailing just after the half hour mark.

The 31-year-old was used sparingly by Zidane once La Liga restarted in June, and was criticised in the Spanish press for pretending to sleep while watching a 2-0 win over Alaves from the substitutes’ bench.

But Alaves crawled back to pick a draw following a 83rd minute equalizer from Lucas Perez.

Deportivo Alaves only fielded the Ghanaian international 14 times last season, all coming by way as a second half substitute.

Mexico forward Javier Hernandez made his debut for Sevilla when he came off the bench in the second half but Alaves finished the game stronger and spurned two chances to equalise late on.

Midfielder Mubarak Wakaso (Alaves‚ Spain)‚ and defenders Harrison Afful (Columbus Crew‚ USA) and Mohammed Salisu (Valladolid‚ Spain)‚ have been ruled out of Thursday's game through injury.

The 25-year old is set to leave Deportivo Alaves in the ongoing transfer window in search of playtime.

Wakaso has been a key part of Alaves’ set-up this season, having featured in all but one of their 13 league games played so far.

Alaves, a small team from the Basque country, kept pace with the likes of Barcelona Atletico during the opening weeks of the season and were ahead of Real Madrid.

Alaves could have passed Barcelona for the lead with a victory, but the host secured the three points with a goal by Youssef En-Nesyri shortly before halftime at Butarque Stadium.

Alaves now sit in third place just behind Real Madrid on goal difference.