Raphinha sets up 2, Olmo scores double as Barcelona rebounds back from Chelsea defeat

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Raphinha set up two early goals and Dani Olmo scored a double as Barcelona fought back for a 3-1 win over Alaves in La Liga on Saturday following the poor showing at Chelsea in the Champions League.

Lamine Yamal also delivered an inspired performance to shake off Barcelona’s 3-0 loss at Stamford Bridge midweek, when he was unable to show his usual attacking flair. The 18-year-old star scored Barcelona’s equalizer, delivered an assist and went close twice to adding another goal against Alaves, including a shot off the post late in the first half.

Raphina twice raced behind the defense on the left side of the area before squaring passes for Yamal and Olmo to score in the eighth and 26th minutes.

Olmo added a third goal in stoppage time when he worked a one-two passing combination with Yamal before firing home.

A key player in Barcelona’s domestic title double last season, Raphinha looked like his old incisive self at Camp Nou in his first start in two months since recovering from a right hamstring injury. He played limited minutes in a win over Athletic Bilbao last weekend and at Chelsea as a late substitute before Hansi Flick gave him the start.

Flick praised Raphinha for his effort in attack and defense, above all because his pressing was contagious among his teammates.

“Rafa (Raphinha) is a player who is dynamic,” Flick said. “We missed him.”

Barcelona’s fourth straight win in La Liga lifted it two points ahead of Real Madrid at the top of the standings before Madrid visits Girona on Sunday.

Raphinha said that the team can still improve.

“Flick believes that we are not playing at our best, and I agree,” Raphinha said. “Even so, the important thing today was getting the win. We know we are not at our best, but we are working and I am sure we will get back to playing our best this season.”

Barcelona got another boost with the return of Pedri González after spending a month without its top playmaker.

Pedri went on with half an hour left, replacing Raphinha. The Spain midfielder had been out a month with a left-leg muscle injury.

Yamal’s shot into the top of the net cancelled out an opening-minute goal by Pablo Ibánez, when Barcelona failed to defend an Alaves corner and the attacking midfielder tapped in from close range.

Alaves, which has struggled to score all season, proved much more dangerous than expected. With the score at 1-1, Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García had to stretch to block a shot by Calebe.

Barcelona apologized to some 7,500 fans who had trouble entering the stadium due to a technical issue with their digital tickets. The club said all except 300 affected ticket holders were eventually able to enter.

Alexander Sorloth scored twice in the first half to lead Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 win over Real Oviedo, as Diego Simeone’s team moved into third place and three points off Barcelona’s lead.

Atletico visits Barcelona on Tuesday.

Nico Williams scored and hit the woodwork as the Spain forward shone in Athletic Bilbao's 2-0 victory at Levante.

Mallorca striker Vedat Muriqi scored twice but Osasuna got two late goals for a 2-2 draw in the Balearic Islands.

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Barcelona's Dani Olmo celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Alaves, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Raphinha, right, duels for the balls with Alaves' Nahuel Tenaglia during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Alaves, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Dani Olmo celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Alaves, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Alaves, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Dani Olmo, back, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Alaves, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

CAIRO (AP) — Iranians began to regain internet access on Wednesday after authorities ended a monthslong shutdown. But users said service was slow and spotty in some areas, with apps like YouTube and Instagram heavily restricted, as they were before the cutoff began during nationwide protests in January.

Authorities justified the outage as a military imperative after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Their decision to lift some restrictions this week came as negotiators appeared to be closing in on a more permanent truce. But many Iranians feared access could be cut off again at a moment's notice.

Internet tracking company Netblocks said Iran’s connectivity, which measures the ability of devices to connect to the internet, is at around 86% of capacity from before the cutoff. Internet analysis firm Kentik said internet traffic, which measures the amount of data transferred and is a good illustration of usage, was at around 40%.

Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity analyst, said there were still widespread disruptions. “It's too early to say the shutdown is over,” he wrote on X.

Iran’s roughly 90 million people have been cut off from the internet for most of 2026, one of the world’s longest and strictest national shutdowns. Young people with online careers saw their incomes evaporate. Job losses and the closure of online businesses added to the war's steep economic costs.

The cutoff made it difficult for Iranian families to communicate through months of unrest and war. At some points, phone lines were also cut off, though they were later restored.

A woman living in Tehran said that for months she was barely able to speak to her sons living abroad. She couldn't believe authorities had restored access, saying she had assumed they would find some justification to prolong the outage.

A taxi driver said service was restored but weak. He expressed hope it would improve so he could use messaging apps with family and friends. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Prices spiked during the shutdown, with residents in Tehran at times paying around $7.50 per gigabyte. Prices are back down to around $2.25 for 30 gigabytes, roughly where they were before the protests.

Even then, Iran tightly controlled access to popular social media sites, leading many to rely on virtual private networks, or VPNs. The cost of those workarounds soared during the shutdown, making them unaffordable for many as the economy was battered.

Businesses have started reappearing online, announcing their return with posts on sites like Instagram and Telegram.

A gamer and tech influencer in the central city of Isfahan said the shutdown had caused him to lose a lot of his audience on YouTube and Instagram, where he had spent years building up a large following.

“All my views and interactions are way down. I’ve been erased from the algorithm,” he said in a voice note sent by WhatsApp, adding that his internet connection was still slower than before the shutdown.

“The situation is such that many content producers have had their income reduced to zero, have moved on to other jobs, or have been forced to sell their equipment to survive,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Iranian authorities first shut down the internet in January during mass anti-government protests that were eventually stamped out in a violent crackdown. Thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands detained.

That cutoff was just starting to ease when the government imposed a complete internet blackout after the start of the war, when U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader and other top officials.

The government faced criticism for the prolonged shutdown, which caused even more harm to an economy devastated by inflation, strikes on key industries and a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports.

The internet cutoff cost an estimated $30-40 million daily, with indirect losses likely twice that much, a member of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Afshin Kolahi, told a local newspaper last month. About 10 million people have jobs that depend on internet connectivity, according to Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi.

Iranians still had access to a national net, but that has a far narrower reach, and users complained of poor service and heavy censorship. Senior government officials are given SIM cards granting them access to the global internet. Under pressure, the government expanded access to the SIM cards to some professions during the shutdown.

A woman checks her smartphone while sitting on a bench along a sidewalk in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)