Jordi Alba, Miami’s perfect partner in crime to Messi’s attacking brilliance

By Laia Cervelló Herreroand Jeff Rueter

Jordi Albacould have been one of the hundreds of children who are trained at Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy but never make it to the first team.

But some things are simply meant to be.

Alba has excelled as Barcelona’s left-back in recent years. He was one of the fastest players in the squad and there was no substitute, no replacement, no rest, until the emergence of Alejandro Balde. He formed one of the most lethal attacking partnerships alongside Lionel Messi, with whom he will now be reunited at Inter Miami.

But this is not the first time he has left the La Liga club.

In 2005, a 16-year-old Alba was out of contract and instead started playing for Atletico Centro Hospitalense, a club from his native L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, one of the satellite cities surrounding Barcelona.

L’Hospitalet started out as a home for commuters whose lives took them into the city, welcoming working-class immigrants from the rest of Spain. Years later, the place has become so big that it has its own identity but still maintains its humble and hard-working profile.

Perhaps that is where Alba got his fighting character and vocation to work hard for himself and for the team.

He had signed for Barcelona as a child, playing for their Alevines (11-12 years old), Infantiles (12-13) and two seasons in the Cadete B (13-15). In 2000, he was one of the players chosen to lay the first stone of the new club’s training ground.

And then came the bitter blow. Forced to leave Barca, he eventually signed for UE Cornella, in the south of the city, where he spent nearly two years before joining Valencia.

Up until then, he did not play as a full-back but as a winger or in more advanced positions. It was only years later that Valencia manager Unai Emery moved him back to full-back to take advantage of his speed and physique. He debuted in La Ligain 2009 and, in the summer of 2012, Barcelona came knocking again. Then-coach Tito Vilanova wanted him. He was coming home.

Alba would be Vilanova’s first buy after the Pep Guardiola era. The club paid €14 million (£12m, $15.4m at today’s exchange rates) for him and he signed for five seasons. He would end up playing more than twice that.

What sort of player is Jordi Alba?

He is a very technical left-back with a good physique, speed and good feet — a rare combination among full-backs. He can run off the ball, sometimes plays as a winger and surprise opponents. His speed helps him to rectify positional errors or to recover his place in front of his advancing opponent. It’s in attack, however, where his presence may be greatest felt.

Among all players who logged at least 900 minutes in La Liga’s 2022-23 season, Alba ranked ninth by averaging 2.41 chances created per 90 minutes, trailing only Ousmane Dembeleand Raphinhaamong Barcelona’s squad. He isn’t just sending in a volume of crosses, either; no full-back or wing-back in La Liga averaged a higher expected assist rate per 100 touches of the ball (0.39) than the now 34-year-old.

Unsurprisingly given his position, he does the lion’s share of his work down the flank.

Alba’s addition also fills the latest calamity created by an injury to a Miami player. Just as his former Barca team-mate Sergio Busquets helps get past the long-term absencesof midfield duo Gregoreand Jean Mota, Alba joins just a month after starting left-back Franco Negriwas ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Negri was one of Miami’s few dependable chance creators, ensuring that the holdovers on their roster will already be used to looking toward the left wing for service.

Even though he is well into his fourth decade, few full-backs in the world game have the ability to set team-mates up for success that Alba does. 

There will be some adjustments necessary to make up for his attacking intuition. Only eight La Liga full-backs and wing-backs let opponents dribble past them more often than Alba (39 per cent) last season.

Busquets will certainly know how to compensate for his runs forward, and centre-backs should be similarly ready to close down counter-attacks in the spaces vacated by an advancing Alba. That said, it’s a rare risk that Miami have decided is too potentially rewarding to miss — and one which should be fascinating to follow in MLS’s format.

What’s his relationship like with Messi on the pitch?

Alba and Messi have a deep understanding, and were always looking for each other as Barca team-mates. The result was an amazing amount of goals.

The Argentinian was at ease with Alba’s forays down the wing, and the Spaniard’s speed and understanding on the pitch made for one of the most dangerous attacking partnerships in the world.

The play between the two was almost always the same: Messi would drive the ball into the ‘D’ of the opponents’ penalty area, create space and there Alba would come in at full speed, beating the opposing right-back.

Reuniting in MLSshould lead to fruitful returns. Only five players assisted more of Messi’s Barcelona goals than Alba’s 23, even as they often patrolled opposite lateral halves of the field. The most recent of those exchanges in La Liga came against Real Sociedadin March 2021 — a sequence that shows just how second-nature their connection had become over the years.

Messi is on the ball in the right-central half-space, with Barcelona storming towards goal with an eight-vs-four advantage on the break. With both centre-backs lingering toward Martin Braithwaite(No 9), Messi brings the ball fully to the box before a simple half-step backwards to find a better angle to feed Alba. There, the left-back works a simple one-two with current LA Galaxymidfielder Riqui Puigto beat his marker and get closer to the touchlin

e……where he can receive the ball and immediately square it back to his friend Messi for a cool finish.

Rather than accepting the praise for his decisions and shot placement, Messi immediately wags a finger toward Alba. You can practically hear him saying, “Oh, you…” as he approaches his old pal for a hug. 

Even with this much commotion in the mixer, the interplay is impossible to fully neutralise. MLS defenses, be warned.

“Getting on with the best player in the world is very easy. His left-footed profile suits me very well. Since I arrived we have always looked for each other. It’s a privilege to play with him and hopefully there will be many more passes and connections,” Alba said of Messi in a 2017 interview with Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.

Their connection was such that even coaches of the stature of Guardiola went so far as to tell a close circle in 2019 that if Manchester City ever played Barcelona in the Champions League, he would put a lot of emphasis on his players defending the moves created between the Spaniard and the Argentinian.

How about off the pitch?

Alba and Messi have known each other since childhood. Despite not being part of the same age group, they spent the same years training at La Masia. In the first team, they quickly got on well, and they have been seen having lunch and dinner with their respective partners every time the Argentinian has visited Barcelona during the past two years he has played for Paris Saint-Germain.

The full-back was one of the players at the Argentinian’s farewell dinner, which he hosted at his home with Busquets and Sergio Aguero, among others.

When the full-back announced he was leaving Barcelona, Messi did not hesitate to leave an affectionate message for him on social media: “You were more than a team-mate, a true accomplice on the pitch,” he wrote. “How nice it is also to be able to enjoy how well we get along on a personal level. You know I always wish you and your family the best.”

The ‘asados’ (Argentine barbecues), family dinners, and everything that brought them together off the pitch in Catalonia will surely continue in Florida.

Why did Barcelona let him leave?

Barcelona had been trying to get rid of Alba for two years. The reasons they wanted him out are not sporting, but financial. In 2019, he signed a renewal until 2024. The amount of money involved in the deal was uncommonly high for a full-back, according to football industry sources.

At the time, Alba was a vital part of the team, especially with Messi still in the squad. But with the economic crisis the club are now in, Barca could no longer afford to pay his salary. On the final day of the transfer window last summer, they tried to transfer him to Inter Milan, but the player refused the move.

Last season — for the first time in years — Alba had not been the starting left-back, losing his place to 19-year-old Balde. The lack of playing time and the experience of last summer’s transfer window made Alba decide to part company with Barca, saving the club a lot of money in the process. 

Despite not having been a regular starter, when he played last season, Alba showed that he still had quality.

He scored the only goal of the game against Osasunaon May 2 and his entrance in the second half against Gironain late January changed the game and gave Barca the three points in a tricky match that was crucial to their title win.

https://theathletic.com/4680384/2023/07/18/jordi-alba-messi-miami/