More problems for Alaves as Edgar Mendez, who started on the right side of a front three, may have to be replaced with what appears to be a thigh problem.

They could be forced into their second injury substitution inside the opening half hour.

One-way traffic, but still goalless.

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Sergio Busquets plays in Sergio Aguero and it's not the best effort from the Argentina striker, with the ball going well wide from 25 yards out.

An early change for Alaves and off goes right-back Ximo Navarro, struggling with a knee injury, and on comes Martin Aguirregabiria, who I hope has a quiet evening.

So close to the opener. Barcelona's Memphis Depay swings in a beautiful corner from the left, Eric Garcia gets up above his marker and heads hard and down. It's going in but Antonio Sivera gets down quickly to push it away.

All the danger is coming down both Barcelona flanks. This time it's Nico Gonzalez who gets free on the right-hand side, he crosses early, but it's too close to the keeper and easily dealt with by Antonio Sivera.

The corner comes to nothing, but Alaves just can't get the ball. Barcelona with 80% of the ball so far.

It's all Barcelona. Alaves hanging on. Barca get their first corner.

Some superb footwork from Memphis Depay, out on the left and he twists and turns to create space, Sergio Aguero tries to head it across goal but it's a poor header and the chance is wasted. Top work from Depay though.

A superb run out of defence from Barcelona's Eric Garcia and he gives it to Sergio Aguero, whose chipped cross to the back post is aimed towards Serginho Dest but some solid Alaves defending manages to get a header in to clear.

A great touch by Luis Rioja on the Alaves left wing to kill dead a cross-field ball and he tries to put the Barcelona defence under pressure but his low, angled cross only finds Gerard Pique, who is able to clear.

Gavi, already a Spain international at the age of 17, sees the ball early on down the Barcelona right wing and his low ball in is looking for Sergio Aguero but away goalkeeper Antonio Sivera is off his line to gather the cross and end the danger.

The Nou Camp is less than half full and Alaves get us under way.

As always we want you to get involved so let us know who should be Barcelona's next manager and why?

Tweet us using #bbceurofooty to get involved and also we want your thoughts on the game too, obviously.

Caretaker boss Sergi Barjuan, who played 382 times for Barca in the 1990s and early 2000s, is happy to hold the fort until a decision on the permanent manager is made.

“My objective is to win and have this team winning their games,” he said. “We are going to try and reverse the situation and I am going to try and add my grain of salt to change the dynamics of this team and the situation.

“If we see that things are going well then good, but if we need to take different decisions then we will do that.”

Who knows? A good run of results under Barjuan could give him the job full-time.

But what Barcelona want and what they get may be a bit different. Al Sadd, the Qatari team where Xavi is currently in charge, are playing hardball...

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So, who next for Barcelona?

They want Xavi, who helped them win La Liga eight times and the Champions League on four occasions.

Here's Laporta's views on the Barcelona legend: "My opinion about Xavi as a manager is he is in a process learning, evolving, I have really good references from close people who know him better than me in that way.

“I talked with him two months ago when we gave Ronald Koeman this confidence because I understand that we had to give him those months, the team needed some time to recover.

“I have a great relationship with Xavi, I have been speaking with him in the last month, I know his opinion about this squad, what he thinks has to happen. We talk as two friends and in this case my opinion is a really good one.

“I am talking to him because he loves football, he is a huge Barca fan, it is one of his goals in his life. I have always said one day he will be Barca’s head coach but I don’t know when."

No matter who is in the Barca dugout, the Nou Camp is always a wonderful sight.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta was asked if he should have sacked Ronald Koeman earlier, with the Dutchman dismissed following their midweek 1-0 loss at Rayo Vallecano.

“Probably, yes,” was Laporta's honest reply. “Looking back it is easy to analyse, we felt Koeman deserved confidence to recover some injured players and it was a way to motivate the manager.

“I looked for some positives. Probably we had to make an earlier decision, I assume the responsibilities of this decision.

“The situation was not sustainable. We needed to act. We were not on course to achieve the objectives of the season, which is to win titles.”