This Sunday, February 2, a FC Barcelona in great form will host Alavés at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys at an unusual time. The match against the babazorros will take place at 14:00 hours, an atypical situation for the blaugranas, who are used to playing their matches at night, and which poses a challenge for the team.

Indeed, this Sunday’s clash will be the sixth that Barça plays at this time in the 21st century, and the record is not encouraging. The blaugranas have managed to achieve only one victory, with three draws and one loss, which occurred this season against Las Palmas on November 30 (1-2).

Barça's last five games at 2:00 p.m.

  1. November 30, 2024 - FC Barcelona vs UD Las Palmas: 1-2 (Raphinha; Sandro and Fábio Silva)
  2. November 25, 2023 - Rayo Vallecano vs FC Barcelona: 1-1 (Unai López; Lejeune, P.P.)
  3. December 31, 2022 - FC Barcelona vs Espanyol: 1-1 (Marcos Alonso; Joselu)
  4. February 21, 2021 - FC Barcelona vs Cádiz: 1-1 (Messi; Álex Fernández)
  5. November 29, 2020 - FC Barcelona vs Osasuna: 4-0 (Braithwaite, Griezmann, Coutinho, and Messi)

Previously, in the 23/24 season, the team managed at that time by Xavi Hernández scraped a 1-1 draw against Rayo in Vallecas, in a controversial draw after the referee failed to signal a clear penalty by Espino on Raphinha in stoppage time. Furthermore, this same result was repeated in 2022 against Espanyol and in 2021 against Cádiz.

Barça Faces a 'Golden' Opportunity

To find the last triumph of the Catalans at 14:00 hours, we must go back to November 2020, when Koeman's side won 4-0 against Osasuna at the Camp Nou with goals from Braithwaite, Griezmann, Coutinho, and Messi. More than four years later, the culés will have a golden opportunity to break this bad streak.

To achieve this goal, Flick has decided to concentrate the team earlier than usual at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, where they will have lunch together and then head to Montjuïc to, once again, change history.