Edgar Mendez had been struggling with an injury in the first half, but makes it to the 62nd-minute mark as he is replaced by Facundo Pellistri, a 19-year-old Uruguayan winger on loan from Manchester United.

United paid a fee of 10m euros to sign him a year ago, so let's see what he's got.

Another chance for Memphis Depay from Nico Gonzalez's chipped ball through. He's one-on-one with away goalkeeper Antonio Sivera, who has very quickly narrowed the angle and Depay's strike hits Sivera and stays out.

We've got a great second half going on at the Nou Camp. A lovely run from teenager Gavi, he slides a pass forward and Memphis Depay gets to the ball before the advancing Antonio Sivera.

Depay already has one goal and nearly gets his second but watches his shot come back off the left post.

Nico Gonzalez has a go at the Alaves goal but the 19-year-old midfielder, who has already represented Spain at Under-21 level, gets too much on it and it goes over.

Jordi Alba also tries his luck a few minutes later, that too is over the top.

This game has sprung into life and Barcelona very quickly nearly retake the lead. Philippe Coutinho's curling effort is tipped over by Antonio Sivera for a corner, which comes to nothing.

An attendance of just 37,278 at the Nou Camp, which holds almost 100,000.

And here we go with half number two.

Real Madrid moved top of La Liga on goal difference with a narrow victory at Elche.

Vinicius Junior opened the scoring midway through the first half, latching onto Mariano's flick-on and sending a low finish into the corner.

Elche's Raul Guti was sent off for a rash challenge on Toni Kroos before Vinicius doubled Real's lead with a cool finish from Luka Modric's pass. Pere Milla scored late on to give Elche hope, but Real held on.

The hosts matched Carlo Ancelotti's side - who were without injured top scorer Karim Benzema - for large spells and could have opened the scoring through Lucas Boye, but the Argentine's shot was superbly saved by Thibaut Courtois.

Lucas Perez should have restored parity after Vinicius' opener but turned Javier Pastore's flick well wide of Courtois' goal.

Real Sociedad can reclaim top spot on Sunday evening when they host Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao.

Not the best of first halves with just the four shots - the worst first half (statistically) at the Nou Camp since February 2018.

Who should be Barcelona's next manager?

Sree: Think the simple answer is Xavi. Fans are going to be more forgiving of any results that go sideways and since he is not a celebrated manager, the expectations would be low. Top 4 finish should and would be considered a best possible season.

Halfway there to a very good result for Alaves.

Image source, Getty Images

Juventus dropped to ninth in Serie A as Verona condemned Massimiliano Allegri's side to a fourth league defeat of the season.

Giovanni Simeone scored twice in three minutes to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

Weston McKennie reduced the arrears with 10 minutes remaining, but there was to be no late reprieve for the visitors.

The result lifts Verona above Juventus, who trail joint leaders Napoli and AC Milan by 13 points.

Allegri's team managed just four efforts on target throughout the 90 minutes, although they did hit the crossbar through Paulo Dybala in the first half.

Napoli can consolidate first place at Salernitana on Sunday, while Milan travel to fourth-placed Roma later that evening.

Barcelona are not the only big name in Europe to be struggling this season...

And that's the half. Barcelona with all the ball, but they haven't done that much with it.

Antonio Sivera has kept it goalless with a brilliant low save to deny Eric Garcia's header. The Alaves goalkeeper also got shown a yellow card for time wasting in the first half.

All square at the Nou Camp.

Memphis Depay tries his luck from just outside the corner of the penalty area. It's straight at Antonio Sivera, although the Alaves goalkeeper drops it but luckily for him can gather it at the second attempt.

Sergio Aguero has gone down, maybe he has taken a whack to the throat, maybe it's a chest injury, but he looks in some discomfort.

That's going to be the end of his evening too. A stretcher is called for, although he doesn't need it, but Aguero goes off and on comes another man well-known to Premier League fans as ex-Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho comes on.

For all of Barcelona's possession (currently at 81%), away goalkeeper Antonio Sivera has only really had one save to make - blocking that powerful downward header from Eric Garcia.

Alaves boss Javier Calleja will be content with the effort from his team so far. Edgar Mendez is still out there so that thigh injury we talked about isn't hampering him too much at the moment.

Mendez is seeing if he can run off the injury. He finds himself at the back post from a deep Alaves free-kick but heads miles wide. Although he and a few of his team-mates were all offside.