Barcelona veteran defender Jordi Alba speaks of better days at Camp Nou when Lionel Messi was around
Jordi Alba speaks of an “easier” time when Lionel Messi was at Barca and the two combined to score over 30 goals despite their unlikely partnership.
Messi and Alba ‘understood’ each other
Barcelona veteran left back Jordi Alba reminisces about the time when Lionel Messi was back at Camp Nou. Despite Messi generally operating from the right flank, he and Jordi Alba often combined to score goals. The two La Masia products combined to score 34 goals before Messi left on a free transfer to join PSG in 2021.
However, despite Barcelona’s good fortune this season, and them being 11 points above rivals Real Madrid, Alba confesses that Messi’s absence is still being felt.
Spain international Alba told Universo Valdano his on-pitch relationship with Messi: “We understood each other perfectly, he put it to me at the right time. It was increasingly difficult because all the opponents already knew us, but he would come in from the second line and sometimes he would find other team-mates who were more unmarked. We made a very good duo. With him, everything was easier.
“Almost all my assists are to him, I remember that the first one was at El Sadar. In all aspects of the game, he is the best.”
With Messi finally winning the World Cup in Qatar, Alba was overjoyed like most football fans.
He added: “All football fans wanted Leo to win, for all he has suffered, for all he has given to football and because he has always wanted that cup.”
