The best La Liga players of the 21st century

Dani Alves

South America populates my full-back positions – one is a trend setter, the other is the young apprentice. Roberto Carlos was one of the Galacticos brought in by Florentino Perez from Inter Milan, something which still riles Inter fans about then manager Roy Hodgson.

He was arguably the best left-back in the world at the time. Blessed with extreme pace and a fierce Thor-like hammer of a left foot, he was capable of dissecting back lines with his 24 inch thighs or breaking goalkeepers wrists with cruise missiles launched from that beast of a left foot.

Forever remembered for “that goal” for Brazil, he was the first real attacking full-back that we see today, at times acting as a second left winger. Sometimes criticised for his defensive capabilities, he was seen as a serious attacking threat, something which suited his game and saw him reap 46 goals over 11 seasons in Madrid. Recently, a poll conducted amongst Madrid fans saw Carlos named in the best Real foreign XI team of all time.

The young pretender is Dani Alves, the right back in a similar mould to Roberto Carlos. The second most expensive defender of all time gives you some idea of the ability of the man from Juazerio.

The self styled “new Roberto Carlos” was first seen on the La Liga scene plying his trade for Sevilla. An attacking and committed full-back, he was soon on the radar of Europe’s major clubs. How different things could have been for Alves – Liverpool were unwilling to pay an extra one million pounds for him in 2006 and Chelsea had two bids turned down for him a year later? In 2008, Barcelona needed to reinforce their full-back positions, and seeing an opportunity, snapped up Alves for a whopping £30 million.

He has not looked back ever since; a genuinely nice guy off the pitch, as shown by his tears when he left Sevilla and his offer to donate a kidney to Eric Abidal, but a thorn in the flesh for the opposition on the pitch – both in terms of petulance and ripping through wingers and full-backs with his constant rampaging runs. Eight league titles between the two full-backs and an incredible five European Cups represent incredible hauls for both.