Luis Enrique was made to pay for rotating his team as the minnows sprung a surprise on Neymar and Co.
Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi leaves the pitch at the end of the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona vs Deportivo Alaves.
Barcelona were stunned by minnows Alaves at Camp Nou as they stumbled to an embarrassing first defeat of the season.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta were brought off the bench in the second half as Luis Enrique picked a heavily rotated team but even with them on the pitch Barcelona struggled to break down the brave Basque warriors.
Deyverson sent Alaves ahead in the 39th minute when he prodded past Jasper Cillessen from close range, before Jeremy Mathieu equalised immediately after half-time from Neymar’s corner.
However, despite the introduction of Barcelona’s stars, the visitors went ahead again as Javier Mascherano and Aleix Vidal failed to deal with Ibai Gomez, who wriggled away and sent Alaves ahead again.
Ivan Rakitic was guilty of a couple of misses, while Messi skied a free-kick and Mathieu missed the best chance of them all, lashing wide from just a couple of yards out.