Winning this La Liga will be very difficult

Barcelona had only won 1 of the last 9 points available in La Liga. A draw and two defeats represented a bad run of form. The Blaugrana failed against Sevilla (1-1) for a lack of firepower, against Getafe (1-0) because of the kicking and refereeing injustice in the Clasico (3-1). Koeman’s side bounced back in the Champions League (2-0) against Juventus in Turin. A big win for the credibility of this project, which should have been confirmed at Alaves on Saturday night.

But it could not be. Neto’s horrific error and then a controversial refereeing decision stopped Barca. They were better than Alaves but first the goalkeeping mistake and then the inexplicable failure not to blow for a penalty on De Jong made it impossible for Koeman’s team to break their bad run in La Liga. Two points from 12, one of their worst starts on paper. But there is hope, light at the end of the tunnel. Pedri came on in the second half and showed he should always start. This league will be hard to win. Very hard. But not impossible.