Daniel Alves

This name uses Portuguese naming customs; the first or maternal family name is Alves and the second or paternal family name is Silva.
Daniel Alves
Dani Alves.jpg
Personal information
Full name Daniel Alves da Silva
Date of birth May 6, 1983 (1983-05-06) (age 27)
Place of birth Juazeiro, Brazil
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Playing position Right back
Club information
Current club Barcelona
Number 2
Youth career
Bahia
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2001–2002 Bahia 25 (2)
2002–2008 Sevilla 175 (11)
2008– Barcelona 63 (8)
National team‡
2006– Brazil 41 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 May 2010.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 August 2010

Daniel Alves da Silva (born 6 May 1983 in Juazeiro), commonly known as Dani Alves, is a Brazilian footballer, who currently plays as an attacking right back for FC Barcelona and the Brazilian national team. Before joining Barcelona, Alves spent a successful six year spell with Sevilla, winning two UEFA Cups and the Copa del Rey with the Andalusian side. He joined Barcelona for €34 million plus add-ons of €6 million, and won the Treble in his first season with the club. Alves holds a Spanish passport.[2]

Contents

Club career

Bahia

Daniel Alves made his professional debut for Bahia in a match against Paraná Clube, for the 2001 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. Bahia won 3-0, with Alves providing two assists and winning a penalty for the other goal. Coach Evaristo de Macedo proceeded to give him a starting place in the team from then on. His constant good performances landed him a transfer, at first on a loan, to Spanish side Sevilla, halfway through 2002.[3]

Sevilla

After 2002–03, on loan to Sevilla from Bahia, Alves travelled to play in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship where he impressed as Brazil won the tournament. He was named as the third best player of the tournament and, after this, the Sevilla move was made permanent.

In June 2006, Sevilla had agreed to sell Alves to Liverpool, but the Reds were unable to match their asking price of around £8 million.[4] In December 2006, he signed a new contract with Sevilla, tying him to the club until 2012.[5] He had a successful 2006–07 season, making 47 appearances and scoring five goals. He also played in every one of Sevilla's UEFA Cup matches which the club went on to win.

From his years in Spain, he also acquired Spanish citizenship, thus allowing him to bypass any non-EU quota restrictions and exempting him from needing a work permit to play in any EU countries.[6]

On 1 August 2007, Alves told SporTV that he wanted to leave Sevilla for a European giant,[7] later reiterating his desire to leave Sevilla to Marca, stating that he was flattered by Chelsea's interest and that he could never turn down such an opportunity.[8] In an interview with Antena 3 on 8 August, Dani Alves confirmed that his agent had been in England for some time handling Chelsea's offer, urging Sevilla to at least consider the offer.[9]

On 16 August 2007, Sevilla rejected an unspecified Chelsea bid and, six days later, rejected another two bids from Chelsea for Dani Alves, considering them to be "way below what was expected."[10][11] NILI Saad later revealed his dismay with Sevilla president José María del Nido for having knocked back Chelsea's offers for his services after his move to Stamford Bridge collapsed, with Chelsea signing fellow Brazilian full back Juliano Belletti for a much lower fee.[12]

After a public war of words between Alves and del Nido[13] and the death of team-mate Antonio Puerta, Alves decided to stay with Sevilla, with player and president appearing reconciled.[14]

Barcelona

Dani Alves (right) and Lionel Messi in a match against Villarreal.

On 2 July 2008, Alves joined FC Barcelona. He left Sevilla in tears and said that he would love to play for Sevilla again. He said that he came to Sevilla as a boy and is now leaving as a man, but later broke down in tears at the press conference.[15] The official price of the transfer stands at £28 million up front, with about £6 million more to pay depending on a number of performance related factors over the next few seasons of Alves' Barcelona career, making him the world's most expensive defender[16] and the third most expensive player bought by Barça. He signed a four-year contract with Barcelona, that includes a buy-out clause of €90 million.

Alves made his competitive and European debuts for Barcelona against Wisła Kraków in the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League third-round qualifiers on 13 August 2008.[17] He made his La Liga debut in the season-opener away to Numancia on 31 August 2008.[18] Dani Alves missed the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final due to a yellow-card suspension; Barcelona beat Manchester United 2–0 and thus completed The Treble. In his second season at FC Barcelona, the club retained the La Liga title.

International career

Alves made his Brazil debut as a substitute in an unofficial friendly match against Kuwait club Al-Kuwait Selection on 7 October 2006. Three days later, he earned his first international cap in a friendly against Ecuador. He was included in Brazil's team for the 2007 Copa América. He appeared in four matches including the final against Argentina, where he gave an assist and scored a goal in a 3–0 victory. Despite being the most expensive right-back in history, he has been unable to hold down a regular starting spot in the national team with Maicon being the first choice ahead of him. Alves came on as a substitute in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final against South Africa and scored the winner, a free-kick and a traditional Brazilian full back goal in the style of Roberto Carlos in the 88th minute in a 1–0 win.[19]

Career statistics

As of 17 May 2010[20]
Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists
Bahia 2001 6 0 0 — — 6 0 0
2002 19 2 0 — — 19 2 0
Total 25 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 2 0
Sevilla 2002–03 10 0 2 1 0 0 — 11 0 2
2003–04 29 1 7 6 1 1 — 35 2 8
2004–05 33 2 8 2 0 2 9 0 3 44 2 13
2005–06 36 3 8 2 0 0 14 0 5 52 3 13
2006–07 34 3 11 8 0 3 15 2 5 57 5 19
2007–08 33 2 15 5 0 0 9 2 3 47 4 18
Total 175 11 51 24 1 6 47 4 16 246 16 73
Barcelona 2008–09 34 5 10 8 0 3 12 0 2 54 5 12
2009–10 29 3 10 6 0 2 13 0 3 48 3 15
2010–11 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1
Total 63 8 20 16 0 6 25 0 5 104 8 29
Career total 263 21 71 40 1 12 72 4 21 375 26 101

International career

As of 2 July 2010[21][22]
National team Club Season Apps Goals
Brazil Sevilla 2006–07 9 1
2007–08 8 0
Barcelona 2008–09 9 2
2009–10 14 0
Total 40 3

Honours

Bahia
2001, 2002
2001
Sevilla
2006, 2007
2006
2007
2007
Barcelona
2009, 2010
2009
2009, 2010
2009
2009
2009
Brazil
2003
2007
2009
Individual
2006
2006
2007, 2009
2009

References

  1. ↑ http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/futbol/temporada_09-10/plantilla/jugadors/alves.html
  2. ↑ Transfermarkt.de - Dani Alves
  3. ↑ "Daniel Alves: da Bahia para o sucesso (Portuguese)". http://www.bahianoticias.com.br/esportes/noticias/2009/06/26/5463,daniel-alves-da-bahia-para-o-sucesso.html. 
  4. ↑ "Liverpool cleared to sign Alves". BBC Sport. 2006-06-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/5078450.stm. Retrieved 2009-04-27. 
  5. ↑ "Sevilla keep hold of Alves". Report on uefa.com. December 22, 2006. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/news/kind=1/newsid=493082.html. Retrieved May 29, 2007. 
  6. ↑ Caroe, Charlie (2008-02-15). "Alves alerts Chelsea and Tottenham". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/15/ufnalves115.xml. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
  7. ↑ "Alves courts Chelsea move". Eurosport. 2007-08-01. http://eurosport.yahoo.com/01082007/58/premiership-alves-courts-chelsea-move.html. Retrieved 2007-08-03. 
  8. ↑ "Alves "cannot turn down" Chelsea". Eurosport. 2007-08-03. http://www.eurosport.yahoo.com/03082007/58/premier-league-alves-turn-chelsea.html. Retrieved 2007-08-03. 
  9. ↑ "Alves puts pressure on Sevilla". Eurosport. 2007-08-08. http://www.eurosport.yahoo.com/08082007/58/premier-league-Alves-puts-pressure-sevilla.html. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
  10. ↑ "Sevilla snub Alves bid". BBC Sport. 2007-08-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/6946263.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-01. 
  11. ↑ "Fresh Alves bids rejected". Eurosport. 2007-08-22. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/22082007/58/premier-league-fresh-alves-bids-rejected.html. Retrieved 2007-09-01. 
  12. ↑ "Alves reveals Del Nido dismay". Sky Sports. 2007-08-24. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_2682850,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-01. 
  13. ↑ "Alves in 'no show'". Eurosport. 2007-08-27. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/27082007/58/champions-league-alves-show.html. Retrieved 2007-09-01. 
  14. ↑ "Ramos can count on Alves". UEFA.com. 2007-09-02. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=579311.html. Retrieved 2007-09-07. 
  15. ↑ ""I have Sevilla to thank for everything..."". Sevilla FC. 2008-07-01. http://www.sevillafc.es/_www/actualidad.php?op=not&id=11277. Retrieved 2008-07-23. 
  16. ↑ "Alves: "Me voy como soñé, por la puerta grande"". El País (Spanish). 2008-01-07. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/deportes/Alves/voy/sone/puerta/grande/elpepudep/20080701elpepudep_2/Tes. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
  17. ↑ "Soccernet match stats". ESPN. 2008-08-13. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/match?id=252050&cc=5901. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
  18. ↑ "Soccernet match report". ESPN. 2008-09-02. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=252793&cc=5901&league=ESP.1. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
  19. ↑ "Brazil 1-0 South Africa". BBC Sport. 2009-06-25. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8115181.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-25. 
  20. ↑ "Daniel Alves" (in English). Soccernet. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=30901&cc=5739. Retrieved 24 April 2010. 
  21. ↑ Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 2006-2007
  22. ↑ Seleção Brasileira (Brazilian National Team) 2008-2009

External links

FC Barcelona – current squad

1 Valdés · 2 Alves · 3 Piqué · 5 Puyol (c) · 6 Xavi · 7 Villa · 8 Iniesta · 9 Bojan · 10 Messi · 11 Jeffrén · 13 Pinto · 14 Mascherano · 15 Keita · 16 Busquets · 17 Pedro · 18 Milito · 19 Maxwell · 21 Adriano · 22 Abidal · Coach: Guardiola