When he arrived at Barcelona from Sevilla, Dani Alves would sulk because Paco Seirul.lo would not allow him to do his usual 150 metre sprints after training every Tuesday. The Brazilian right-back had got used to doing this type of anaerobic exercise at Sevilla and felt his excellent physical condition depended on it. Without the 150m sprints, he was worried he would be incapable of getting up and down the right flank dozens of times during every match he played.

Marti Perarnau

But there is no place for this type of work in the methods used by Seirul.lo. Lorenzo Buenaventura (Bayern Munich) and Rafel Pol (Barcelona) don't have room for these type of exercises either.

Alves spent his first few months at Barça grumbling because he thought he would lose his resistance, and with that, his best qualities as a player. He soon came to understand that he would not only not lose it, but he would improve even more under Seirul.lo. Since then, his runs up and down the right (and all over the pitch) have made Alves the No.1 at his position.

His managers, however, have always asked him to run less. For what reason? Because his physical exuberance can cause disorder. He runs too much and in too many different areas. On occasions, his capability to attack and run allows him to score goals, create goals and to cause plenty of teams defensive problems. On other occasions, though, too much exuberance has led to weaknesses in Barça's back line.

After several seasons tainted by irregularity, Alves started the current campaign with the same dynamics, which is to say, wasting energy up and down the wing. Luis Enrique's initial plan was to use the Brazilian as a full-back and a winger at the same time, therefore running a lot, but also accumulating errors.

But in January, Luis Enrique began to make some modifications to the way Alves was asked to play. He now plays in a more reduced area, where his runs are less frequent, but more direct and just as dangerous. He has been playing better, too, and his all round play, in attack and defence, has been much more effective. And Barcelona have been winning football matches.