Barcelona v Alavés preview: leaders host seventh-placed visitors

The occasion and the table

Barcelona host Alavés on matchday 11 of La Liga, with kick-off on 31 October 2026 at 20:00. The meeting pits the league leaders against a side sitting in the top half.

Barcelona are 1st in the table with 27 points from 10 matches. Their record reads 9 wins, 0 draws and 1 defeat, with 40 goals scored and 11 conceded.

Alavés are 7th with 12 points from their 10 matches, built on 3 wins, 3 draws and 4 defeats. They have scored 14 goals and conceded 11, the same number of goals the leaders have let in.

Recent form and home/away records

Despite their position at the summit, Barcelona arrive on the back of two straight defeats. Most recently they lost 1-2 at home to Real Madrid, and before that they were beaten 2-4 away by Paris Saint-Germain. Prior to those setbacks they had won three in a row: 5-2 away at Real Betis, 4-1 away at Galatasaray and, before that, 3-0 at home against Getafe. That adds up to 3 wins, 0 draws and 2 defeats from their last 5 matches.

Alavés are still searching for a win in their last 5 matches. Their latest outing was a 1-1 home draw with Málaga. Before that they lost 1-2 away at Celta Vigo, and prior to that they went down 1-2 at home to Atlético Madrid. Earlier in that run came a 0-0 draw away at Athletic Club and a 0-1 home defeat by Valencia, leaving them with 0 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats across the five matches.

The venue records add further context. At home in La Liga this season, Barcelona have played 5 matches, winning 4 and losing 1, with 18 goals scored and 6 conceded. Alavés, meanwhile, have yet to win away from home in the league: from 4 matches on the road they have 2 draws and 2 defeats, scoring 3 goals and conceding 5.

Previous meetings

The two most recent meetings between the clubs produced contrasting results. On 13 May 2026, Alavés beat Barcelona 1-0. Before that, on 29 November 2025, Barcelona won 3-1 at home against Alavés.

Players to watch

Raphael Dias Belloli leads the scoring charts for Barcelona in La Liga this season with 13 goals, a significant share of the 40 his side have managed in the league.

For Alavés, Lucas Boye is the top scorer in La Liga this season with 5 goals, and the visitors are likely to look to him for a cutting edge.

How the two sides tend to play

The numbers point to a Barcelona side built around scoring. They have found the net in all of their last 5 matches, and their La Liga tally of 40 goals in 10 matches underlines how often they create and convert chances. At the other end, however, they have kept just 1 clean sheet in that five-match run, and both teams scored in 4 of those matches.

Alavés present a different profile. Their 14 league goals suggest a more modest output, but conceding only 11 in 10 matches points to a side that can keep games tight. In their last 5 matches they scored in 3 and kept 1 clean sheet, with both teams scoring in 3. Away from home their games have been low-scoring, with 3 goals scored and 5 conceded in 4 league matches on the road.

The contest therefore looks set to test whether the visitors can contain one of the most frequent scorers in the division on this season's evidence, while Barcelona will be keen to tighten up after conceding six goals across their last two matches.

Estimated win chances

Estimated win chances from market data, computed by goal888 with the margin removed, stand at Barcelona 86%, draw 9% and Alavés 5%. These figures are estimates, not a prediction.

Calculated from market prices, not a prediction or betting advice.