Dani Alves is dominating Champions League in a way that’s unique to him

The best thing about Dani Alves is that he still treats football as a sport. He still sees it as a childish thing that should be enjoyed.

The Brazilian footballer stereotype is a creative player who plays freely, carelessly, shunning the notion of defending and tactical acumen for the freedom of stepovers and backheels. A player who is granted the privilege of playing outside of the system because they’re capable of magic, regardless of position. A player who is even allowed a reckless lifestyle off the field, where his colleagues are given strict diets and bed times.

That is not entirely true of Alves. He is capable of magic but he plays defense. He is disciplined, even if he can still get caught out of position. Against Barcelona, he kept his countryman Neymar quiet, even while on a yellow card — a yellow that he earned because he kept fouling the winger to stop him from gaining any rhythm. And against Monaco, he, along with the rest of the Juventus backline, managed to subdue the French side’s perplexing attackers after their quick start.

The thing is that he just that he doesn’t confine himself in defense. Nor does he attack like an ordinary fullback — which is to make runs forward when the opportunity presents itself, overlap the winger when necessary, and then get the ball into the box as often as possible. To do things simply because of limited ability.

He does all these things, but he also plays football. He plays with a supreme confidence in his abilities. He knows he’s as good on the ball as any other player on the field. He connects with his teammates, he plays one-twos, he dribbles, he makes defense-splitting passes. He plays like a box-to-box midfielder who just happens to be on the right flank. That ability doesn’t just come from countless hours of training. Because he is a defender, it comes from a self-actualization and an insistence that he will play the sport at its fullest, consequences be damned.

It takes an incredible amount of courage to play like he does. Forwards can do so because they are expected to make mistakes, that comes with the territory of creativity. Forwards have to be daring. They only have to succeed a handful of times to be considered a success and when they do fail, which is often, they have two lines of defense to mitigate the disaster. The further down you go, the less forgiveness there is for mistakes. Which is why goalkeepers are basically gluttons for punishment.

Every time Alves decides that he will immerse himself in the play, rather than just passing the ball off to those higher up and hanging back, he creates dangerous opportunities for his opponents. Each dribble comes with the risk of the ball being poked away, of a counterattack with him way behind the play.

Knowing all of this, it would be sensible for Alves to calm down on his antics in his advanced age. He should be different now that he’s at Juventus, where his license to roam and imagine himself as a No. 10 should be limited at least.

But to expect that was to miss the point of what makes Alves such an infectious player. He will never change. The second that he can’t play like Dani Alves, he will probably retire. In a Sid Lowe interview from 2016, he talks about his unwillingness to be shackled to a rigid notion of football and his position, from his time at Sevilla:

“The fullback couldn’t go beyond halfway. I said: ‘Why not?’ Football is defend-attack, defend-attack ... or attack-defend, attack-defend. Football has no limits, no rules. [Caparrós] changed my position [to midfielder] until he realised that although I had offensive qualities I could do both.”

His first assist against Monaco came from a play that was so painfully Dani Alves that Gonzalo Higuain should get a “Daniel” chest tattoo as a mark of respect. He sent the ball to up to Paulo Dybala who flexed on the Monaco players with a flick back to the inside. Alves ran to receive the pass, and then drove forward before passing it to Higuain.

Then he kept running. A defender pushed him. Still he kept running. He ran all the way to the edge of the Monaco box where he received Higuain’s through ball. Surrounded by two defenders now, who showed him to the outside, he could have passed the ball back down so a cross could be delivered. He could have taken it to the outside even more to reset play. He could have done a number of practical things. Instead he caught everyone off-guard with a wonderful backheel.

It was a move so unexpected that the Monaco defenders were practically jogging as they assumed that the attack was dead when Alves was converged upon. Then they were left sliding in a desperate attempt to stop the certain goal.

The second came from him and Dybala cornering an attacker and Alves poking the ball away. Defense! Again Dybala provided the hockey assist. This times, Alves showed his midfielder’s acumen with a perfect ball over the defense. A pass that didn’t just go to Higuain but led him to the far post beyond his defender, into the dangerous zone of uncertainty for goalkeepers. It was a ball to die for. A ball so beautiful and miraculous that it almost healed Higuain’s bald spot. All the Argentine had to do was to get a touch on it.

When you see Alves create chances like that — one ridiculous, one incredibly technical — it’s hard not to fall in love with him again. It’s also not surprising that he’s created the most chances in the Champions League this season. It’s no shock that he leads Juventus in assists for the competition either. Or that he’s seventh on the Champions League all time assists ladder, above Cesc Fabregas, Franck Ribery, Thierry Henry, and Frank Lampard. The only stat that’s hard to believe is that this was the first time he’s made two assists in a single European game.

Again, it’s not only the offense. Juventus has only conceded two goals in the Champions League and has gone over 600 minutes without conceding. Alves is a part of that, as well.

The best part is that he’s done it all his way. He has become a footballing legend by playing the sport the way he wanted to, how he felt compelled to, as fearless and joyful as possible. When the day comes and he finally hangs it up, he will have no comparison. He will have played the fullback position and the game in general as only Dani Alves could have. And it’s been such a wonderful thing to watch.