Barcelona hoping to break “early kick-off curse” against Alaves – Football España

Barcelona are hoping to continue their excellent form in 2025 as they take on Alaves in their latest La Liga clash at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. Hansi Flick’s have been in poor league form in recent months, although they are off the back of a mesmerising 7-1 victory over Valencia last weekend.

Sunday’s match is a 2pm CEST kick-off in Catalonia, and the early starts are rather uncommon for Barcelona. The time slot for matches was first introduced during the 2020-21 season, and since then, the Catalans have only played five matches, and with a rather unwanted record.

As per MD, Barcelona’s five 2pm kick-offs have seen one win, three draws and a defeat. Their debut match in this time slot was a 4-0 win over Osasuna (2020-21), after which three stalemates followed against Cadiz (1-1, 2020-21), Espanyol (1-1, 2022-23), and Rayo Vallecano (1-1, 2023-24). The latest fixture was against Las Palmas earlier this season, and that resulted in a 2-1 home defeat – this was Hansi Flick’s first loss at the Estadi Olimpic since his appointment last summer.

As such, this is a “curse” that Barcelona will be keen to end against Alaves. Flick’s side will start as big favourites to continue their strong start to 2025, but the German coach is well aware of the threat that the Basque side can cause. He is also understanding that his players must be at 100% to ensure victory.

Barcelona cannot afford to drop silly points between now and the end of the season, given that they need to make up a seven-point deficit to Real Madrid in the La Liga title race. The results this season show that it is doable, although they need to be at their best if they are to go on and secure their first league title since the 2022-23 campaign, when Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba were still at the club..