Full-backs are now an essential part of football, in terms of tactics and team structure.
The position that was one considered a home for defenders not good enough (or tall enough) to play centre-back is now a key component on the game, so much so that a team can be almost built on the capability of their full-backs to perform. It’s not just enough to have one these days either, you need a pair to really sit at the top table.
Manchester City’s leap in quality between Pep Guardiola’s first season and title-winning second owes so much to the fact that they brought in some great full-backs. Meanwhile Manchester United’s decline can be tracked by, amongst other things, the vast failures of their full-backs.
With the Champions League returning, here are the top 10 full-back pairings in Europe’s premiere competition.
10. Rafael and Ferland Mendy
Lyon
Rafael da Silva (remember him? Probably only if you’re a Manchester United fan) has found a home for himself in Lyon and the Brazilian’s buccaneering style of play makes him a great partner for the latest in the long line of lethal left-backs to emerge from Lyon. Ferland Mendy is so good he’ll probably follow in Eric Abidal and Samuel Umtiti’s footsteps and convert to centre-back and move to Barcelona.
9. Alessandro Florenzi and Aleksandar Kolarov
Roma
Alessandro Florenzi began life as a winger but by now has just become a solid wing-back whose potential for impact in attack is a tremendous bonus to Roma. What’s almost more impressive here though is Aleksandar Kolarov’s career renaissance since leaving Manchester to return to the Italian capital. The Serb is back to being a genuinely good left-back instead of the defensive disaster he was for City.
8. Elseid Hysaj and Mario Rui
Napoli
For the longest time Elseid Hysaj has been the hotshot young right-back everyone wanted to sign but couldn’t because Napoli don’t sell unless they want to. He’s fallen from that pedestal a bit but still a very capable performer and makes for a good partner across from hot-tempered Mario Rui, the Portuguese journeyman who took his chance to play whilst Fouazi Ghoulam was injured and now is the preferred choice in the starting role.
7. Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies
Spurs
Mauricio Pochettino turned Kyle Walker and Danny Rose into the best full-back pairing in the Premier League and a top 5 pairing across all Europe. Walker moved on and Rose is in and out of the side, but Trippier and Davies are coming along nicely as their replacements. Trippier in particular has become a sensation thanks to his lethal crossing and set-pieces. Ben Davies’ steady excellence is now quaint by comparison.
6. Joao Cancelo and Alex Sandro
Juventus
Joao Cancelo always underwhelmed, but now he’s at Juventus somehow he’s become a genuinely potent attacking full-back. This places him across from Alex Sandro, the brilliant Brazilian who is the true heir to Filipe Luis’ crown of being 8/10 at everything but 9/10 at nothing. Together they give Juve a lovely Lusophoni full-back pair that provide width and defensive balance.
5. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson
Liverpool
Here’s an odd-couple: one full-back is a teenage midfielder and the other is a fairly run-of-the-mill full-back who got relegated with Hull. Yet Jurgen Klopp has taken them and made them into an incredible pair of full-backs, with Robertson being an endless shuttling presence and Alexander-Arnold’s suspect defending being made up for by his supreme attacking instincts.
4. Nelson Semedo and Jordi Alba
Barcelona
Jordi Alba is one of the top three full-backs in the world but he’s still constantly underperforming; he should bag at least 10 goals and 15 assists from the amount of great passes he receives from Leo Messi. Still, he’s great. Barcelona’s problem in fully maximising Alba in a pair is that they don’t play their phenomenally solid, ruggedly defensive, positionally aware Nelson Semedo as much as they do. As a duo these two could perhaps challenge for the top spot, but the fact that Ernesto Valverde will intermittently push Sergi Roberto ahead of Semedo knocks them down a couple spots.
3. Joshua Kimmich and David Alaba
Bayern Munich
These two lovely lads dominate the Bundesliga for fun and show their quality in the Champions League too. Alaba may have fallen off quite impressively since his peak under Pep Guardiola, but he is still a supernaturally talented full-back. Meanwhile Joshua Kimmich has emerged as a true heir to Philipp Lahm(‘s attacking contributions), flying forward and basically being a better, younger Trippier. His cut-backs make up so much of what Bayern do in attack.
2. Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy
Manchester City
Manchester City have a bajillion options in their side, both in a back four and a 3-5-2. They can do and rotate well; but the one constant is that Kyle Walker will nearly always play and if they’re paying their absolute Gala XI, then Benjamin Mendy will flank him. These two are sensational athletes with sublime technique; and Guardiola uses them to balance each other so well; with Walker tasked with playing a more defensive role, limiting his forward runs and protecting defensive transitions, whereas Mendy is unleashed as a force of nature, dominating the left-flank with his runs, passes and crosses.
1. Dani Carvajal and Marcelo
Real Madrid
In the 2014 UEFA Champions League final, Real Madrid were losing and didn’t really look like cracking Atleti open. Then on 59 minutes Marcelo entered the pitch to play opposite Dani Carvajal (don’t ask why Fabio Coentrao was starting it’s too weird to think about) and Los Blancos suddenly began to take control of the game. The eventual victory owed so much to Madrid’s full-backs driving up the field, though you’d never know that.
All of Madrid’s success since then owes a huge debt to Marcelo and Carvajal; these two did so much legwork for Los Blancos, especially under Zinedine Zidane and his narrow 4-3-1-2 system, that when one of them got injured Madrid’s form genuinely suffered. Marcelo is a next-level attacking talent, Madrid’s co-chief playmaker – capable of deciding games by himself. Carvajal is a more orthodox player at right-back, just, the very ideal of the orthodox right-back. A more athletic and skilled Gary Neville, basically.
Together they attack, they defend, and they set the tempo for Madrid. Los Blancos never look as comfortable passing the ball as they do when Marcelo is on, and they never look as comfortable defending opponents as they do when Carvajal is around intimidating everyone. Injury and age may slow them down, but no one can argue with their legacy. The undisputed no. 1.
The post Ranked: The top 10 full-back pairings in the Champions League this season appeared first on Squawka News.
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