Dani Alves' Place at Barcelona Again Under Pressure After Costly Copa Errors
Barcelona took a big step toward yet another Copa del Rey last-four appearance on Wednesday night, as they beat Athletic Club 2-1 away from home to set up a second leg at the Camp Nou where they will be heavy favourites to go through to the semi-finals.
There is still work to do, though, and the fault of that has to lie largely with Dani Alves, who suffered a minor meltdown near the end of the first leg to gift one—and almost a second—goal to Athletic to keep their hopes alive in the tie.
Despite a largely good season overall this year, Alves' position is under threat once again, and it looks as if the Brazilian is going to have to overcome another battle for a regular starting spot—one he has had to win several times in the past couple of seasons.
2014-15 and a season of two halves
The second half of last year will be in the memories of most Barcelona fans as one where the right flank of the team was a thing of beauty: Lionel Messi ducking infield off the flank to scheme and create havoc in the channel and even more centrally, leaving Alves free to surge forward, link play well and deliver some fantastic crosses for the forwards to attack.
Correct, but only half of a year-long picture.
Earlier in the campaign, Alves had been ridiculed by many for poor displays, and he was quite clearly a weak link in the side—suspect defensively and not producing much of note going forward.
The Brazilian overcame that challenge in style, which is just as well given the lack of impact of Douglas and the soon-to-be-departed Martin Montoya, but only a few months before Alves lifted the Copa del Rey, Liga and Champions League trophies there were plenty who were ready to put him at the top of the "must-replace" list for summer.
A chat with Sergi Roberto
In the early stages of the current season, Alves was absent through injury and an unfamiliar face surged forward from the right side of defence: Sergi Roberto, a hadn't-quite-made-it central midfielder who has since found form, confidence and self-belief after a string of exceptional displays from August to October.
It emerged that boss Luis Enrique had worked relentlessly on convincing the 23-year-old that he could play that position, with AS suggesting the manager told Roberto he would play "half the games" at full-back and that he had "superior tactical intelligence to Dani Alves."
There's no doubting that it worked—Roberto was Barcelona's top player in the early weeks of the season, even after he switched back to midfield because of injuries.
When there were three other fit midfielders, Alves was benched for a time, with Roberto preferred to start at right-back.
However, injuries have plagued Barcelona throughout this season, and Alves soon returned—with Roberto moving on to play in seven different roles so far, including at left-back against Athletic on Wednesday night.
Alves had his place back, but it was almost by default.
In fairness, he has been a huge part of Barcelona's impressive form and there's no doubt the Barcelona No. 6 deserves his spot of late. But errors have once again been seen in the last few weeks, and a new challenger is on the scene.
New year, new threat
In truth, Alves' moment of madness couldn't have come at a worse time for him. Aleix Vidal played at right-back in La Liga at the weekend and was fantastic—at both ends of the pitch—though he was barely up against any attacking threat of note after the early dismissal of Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz.
Alves returned for the Copa quarter-final, but gifted the Basque team their late goal with a moment of poor control and judgement, before almost costing an equaliser with an equally silly foul.
The relentless nature of upcoming matches for Barcelona means it probably won't be too telling whether Alves plays in the next game or not, but if he makes further errors or drops off his performance in big matches—or Vidal continues to impress—Enrique will make the switch.
Vidal is younger and versatile, and Alves has a shorter-term contract—a potential last chance for Barcelona to take some cash for him.
It's unlikely that Alves will come out of the side immediately, and he'll play a part as the Catalan club fight for honours on all fronts again this season, but once again it is his place which appears to be under most threat.
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