On October 6, 2024, Alaves faced the La Liga leader Barcelona at home. Although Alaves had a good start this season, it was still difficult for Alaves to resist Barcelona. In the end, thanks to Lewandowski's hat trick, Barcelona took all three points away from home. In addition, the return of captain De Jong also injected a shot of adrenaline into the subsequent schedule.

Hansi Flick has got the best out of Lewandowski. He's the striker who, when he's wearing the Bayern shirt, will score against every team that comes before him. It wasn't that he'd forgotten how to score goals at Barça, but what he's done at the start of the season is pretty impressive. He's scored 10 goals in nine games, with only one being a penalty. The Pole showed at Mendizorroza that age is just a number by scoring a hat-trick in the first half hour of the match to shatter the hopes of an Alavés team that is difficult to beat on its own ground. However, against the Blaugranas, they soon ran out of options.

The loss in Pamplona was a wake-up call for Barça, and they were determined not to let it happen again in Vitoria. That's why, from the start, Barça brought more intensity to the match. The Alavés team couldn't protect itself with an advanced defence that easily broke up the Barça attack. Raphinha scored just three minutes in, but Lamine Yamal was ruled offside. The muscle injury to Ferran Torres, who was substituted after five minutes, didn't have a negative impact on Flick's strategy. He brought on Eric García and moved Pedri out of midfield. From the outset, Barça's standout player was captain Raphinha, who was instrumental in Lewandowski's first two goals. First, he gave a free kick in the six-yard box for Lewi to get ahead of Abqar and head home from close range. Then, he served the ball to the Barça number 9 on a plate after finishing off a great counterattack from his own half. Raphinha had the 0-3, but Sivera saved a one-on-one.

Alavés were completely outclassed and barely created any danger. It was clear that Luis García Plaza's 100th game as Babazorro coach wasn't going to be rewarded. The score was increased just after the half-hour mark thanks to a great move involving Casadó, Eric García and Lewandowski, who crossed the ball just out of Sivera's reach. Pedri had a chance to make it 0-4, but he didn't control the ball well. With nothing to lose, Alavés started to play more aggressively. In the last minute of the first half, Toni Martínez beat Iñaki Peña, but the goal was disallowed due to an offside decision by Tenaglia. The Basque team missed their chance to try to get back into the game.

The second half started with Alavés trying to get back into the game by scoring early on. And they came close to scoring again in the fifth minute with a shot that hit the post from Toni Martínez. After Alavés made their initial push, Barça took back control of the game without taking any unnecessary risks. Luis García tried a different approach by bringing on Kike García and Conechny, but it didn't work either. Just before the hour mark, Flick gave Lamine Yamal a breather, who had barely had a look in during the game, and brought on Ansu Fati instead. It'll be great for the German coach to get the Barça number 10 back, as he's very motivating. Ansu was close to making it 0-4, but Sivera and the post got in the way.

There was more good news for Barcelona with 10 minutes to go, as De Jong returned to the pitch after being out since April. He's an important part of the Barça midfield, and we'll be seeing a lot more of him this season. In the 85th minute, another goal was disallowed for Alavés for being offside, but the score remained the same. Barça heads into the second half with a smaller gap between them and Madrid than they had at the start, but with a positive feeling about how things are going. As Flick said, there was no need to worry about losing to Osasuna.