The best Alba ever

Jordi Alba has completed his return from hell. The L’Hospitalet full-back has scored five goals and provided 15 assists this season. They are his best numbers since he arrived at Barça in the 2012-13 academic year. Only in another season, 2018-19, managed to intervene in 20 goals (three goals and 17 assists). Now he has eight more games to pulverize his figures. All this with 32 years and after being more on the line than ever at the end of last season.

Jordi Alba weighed a lot the end of the 2018-19 season. At Anfield he lived a nightmare the night of 4-0 against Liverpool. It ended in tears. Two weeks later, in the Cup final against Valencia at Villamarín, Carlos Soler passed him like a plane down the wing on the 2-0 play. The Bartomeu board of directors, in their most intimate circles, charged Alba for having relaxed after its renovation. ANDn February 2019, it had signed its extension until 2024. To its critics, it seemed as forced and wrong a decision as the extension of Umtiti. Alba will end her contract with 35 years. Last season, except for a decent final stretch, it was mediocre, and he had problems with injuries again, an issue that he seemed to have resolved years ago.

Delivered, the 2-8 of Lisbon put him in the trigger. To Suárez, to Busquets and to the side. Koeman decided to give it a try, half convinced and half forced by a long contract that no one was able to pay abroad. It was then that Alba started a personal battle. A rematch from which, for now, he has emerged victorious. He has played games that have remembered the exuberant player that he was, he has signed the best numbers of his career, and he has returned to the National Team. Koeman's latest system change, the lane recourse, has also tasted like glory.