World Cup 2018: 5 Full-Backs to watch out for in this edition

#2 Dani Alves (Brazil)

Alves has made 106 appearances for Brazil

Dani Alves is a gift that keeps on giving, so enjoy him while you can. Regarded as one of the best full-backs of his generation having played for Sevilla, Barcelona, Juventus and PSG.

Alves is an offensive right-back or wing-back well-known for his pace, stamina, overlapping attacking runs, technical skills and also for inspiring a generation of youngsters across the world. The Brazilian has won everything for club and country but the World-Cup.

Alves is right in the middle of an incredible career renaissance at PSG after he looked a spent force at the start of 2015.

Alves is a unique genius of a player, a galloping full-back and a studious central midfielder, who thrives so much in the big games that even at his age, you’d never bet against him.

He offers his teams an unparalleled amount of assistance in match control, and then he is also an accurate striker of the ball and is known for his ability to score goals in particular from outside the area or through set-pieces.

By the time the World-Cup starts he will be 35 and comfortably the oldest man on this list but the experienced Brazilian star has now won 36 trophies in his professional career which appears to have made him the most decorated footballer in the world.

Alves has also won three trophies with Brazil, winning the 2007 Copa America as well as the Confederations Cup in 2009 and 2013.

A regular on the FIFA FIFPro World XI, UEFA Team of the Year and many other polls, Alves deserves the spot on this list not for the future that the World-Cup might hold for him, but to enjoy the phenomenon that Alves is on the big stage for one last time.

If Brazil are to mount a serious challenge, they should do it as a testament for the contribution to the game by a player so noble of heart, he was willing to donate a part of his liver for his friend's treatment for liver cancer.