UPDATE: Alves' transfer to Juventus is official:
UFFICIALE - @DaniAlvesD2 è bianconero! https://t.co/U82CsKAyIY #BemVindoDani pic.twitter.com/1Uxq8fjdnz
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) June 27, 2016
Hypnotic. That’s what is was like to watch Dani Alves and Lionel Messi play together in the prime of their partnership. For all the talk of Xavi and Andres Iniesta’s role in the rise of Tiki Taka, often it was Alves and Messi who would exemplify it the most on the field.
Both on the right side, even when Messi had moved toward a more central role, they would dance up the wing with a series of passes. Again and again they would do it, until things got the the point where you weren’t sure whether Alves was a right-back or a right winger.
Messi and Alves’ partnership was so complete that Alves assisted Messi more than any other player in FC Barcelona history; Xavi and Iniesta have done it 33 times, Alves 42.
But now the Alves era at Barcelona has come to an end. Alves is reportedly transferring to Juventus FC, going from one champion to another, and with him he will being his championship pedigree.
Barcelona and Lionel Messi now have to deal with how they are going to replace Alves. Some people will be quick to say that Barcelona has never been in a better position to lose the player Messi once called the best right-back in the world. The telepathic connection that Messi had with Alves he now has with Neymar and Luis Suarez, but that new partnership has yet to recreate the success of the old.
Photo: @KayyWassupHello | Twitter
Dani Alves won three Champions Leagues, 6 La Ligas, 4 Copa Del Reys, and 4 FIFA CLub World Cups with Barcelona. MSN so far has only won a solitary Champions League and two La Ligas, Copa del Reys, and Club World Cups by comparison.
Alves’ massive trophy haul begs the question of what is really leaving Barcelona with his departure. Of the 18 players selected for Barcelona’s 2011 Champions League victory, the year in which they won the treble, only five now remain at the club.
Barcelona still has Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets to practice tiki-taka, and it still has La Masia to teach it to the next generation, but there is little reason to believe the club will ever reach the pinnacle of tiki-taka it reached in 2011, just as there is little chance the club can replace Dani Alves with a full-back who fit that philosophy so well. Juventus may have gained a champion, but Barcelona has seen another nail driven into the coffin of its greatest dynasty.
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