Jordi Alba Ramos (born 21 March 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. He is often regarded as one of the best left-backs of his generation.
Alba started his career at Barcelona, but was released after being deemed too small. After joining Cornella, he moved to Valencia. In 2012 he returned to Barcelona, with whom he has won sixteen major honours, including five La Liga titles, five Copas del Rey and one UEFA Champions League.
After winning 23 caps and scoring one goal at youth level, Alba made his senior debut for Spain in 2011. He was an integral member of the team that won UEFA Euro 2012, and was also part of the squads at the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and 2018, and the European Championship in 2016 and 2020.
Alba is a diminutive, technically gifted, mobile, and rapid attacking left-back, who can also be used as a left winger; he is known for his pace, link-up play, ball control, positioning, vision, movement, and his ability to time his attacking runs into space and get up the flank, as well as his ability to deliver crosses into the box, which allows him to provide assists for teammates. Moreover, he is also a tenacious tackler; however, his defending has been cited as a weakness by certain pundits, such as Enrique Ortego of Marca, although he was able to improve upon this aspect of his game as his career progressed. His speed and stamina allow him to be very involved in both his team's offensive and defensive plays, as he can get from one end of the pitch to the other very quickly, often pushing forward to get past players and score goals, or falling back when his team have lost possession.
In his prime, his connection and combination play with Lionel Messi rendered them one of the most effective attacking duos in world football and one of the most lethal in Barcelona's history. Regarded as a standard for left-backs in Europe by the media, Alba has earned plaudits from former left-backs Joan Capdevila and Roberto Carlos over his playing style and ability. He is also considered to be among the quickest players of his generation, and one of the fastest full-backs of all time. |
