Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde was pleased with victory at Alaves.

Barca won 2-0 thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi, who also missed a penalty.

"Alaves were so compact that their forward was closer to our midfielders than defenders," Valverde explained in his post-match press conference.

"We've overcome a difficult test.

"It took a lot to open the scoring.

"There were stuck within a 15-metre space and it meant that sometimes we were so close that there were as many as 18 players in such a small space."