Bayern Munich’s David Alaba Is so Much More Than the World’s Best Left-Back

The Alaba family has a habit of coming first; dad George was the first black gardesoldat in the Austrian army, mother Gina is a former Miss Philippines, and then there’s David.

He was in the Austria Vienna squad at 15 and was Austria’s youngest international at 17 years and 112 days. Just over 100 days later, he became the youngest player to make a competitive appearance for Bayern Munich. A month after that, he added the same honour for the German giants in the UEFA Champions League.

Alaba also became the youngest Bayern player to reach 50 competitive appearances, and he then claimed the record for getting to a century of Bundesliga wins last season. If he wasn’t such a great guy…

Add to that another honour, that of the world’s best left-back as decreed by ESPN FC last week. Honorific it may be, but when you look at the talent he left in his wake—Jordi Alba, Marcelo and Raphael Guerreiro were second to fourth respectively—it is quite an accolade. Particularly when you consider it may not even be Alaba’s best position.

Borussia Dortmund partisans will—justifiably—make the same case for Guerreiro, but even the most subjective yellow-and-black devotee would have to admit that Alaba is a step or three ahead of their summer arrival, Euro 2016 winner’s medal around his neck or not.

While Bayern knew they had a gem on their hands early on, bringing Alaba from the Austrian capital to Bavaria when he was just 15, their backs must be sore with all the self-congratulatory slapping that must go on at the Allianz Arena at having stumbled upon possibly the most versatile footballer of all time.

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We have all heard the “I’m just happy to play anywhere” line, but in Alaba’s case, it is almost true.

“David Alaba is our God,” former Bayern boss Pep Guardiola said, per Les-transferts.com (in French). “He has already played in almost every position.”

Omnipresent then, rather than omnipotent, but there is no doubt that wherever he has played, Alaba’s displays have been nothing short of heavenly. As Louis van Gaal put it, per Der Sechzehner (in German), simply but quite correctly: “Alaba isn’t good. He’s very good.”

But where is he best?

“He is a left-back, even if he doesn’t know it himself,” said Van Gaal with his usual certitude, per Der Sechzehner (in German). And while Bayern fans may not always have seen eye-to-eye with the outspoken Dutchman, they surely agree with him on this point, at least to a certain extent.

Anyone who witnessed his Champions League debut—playing at left-back—would have been as impressed as Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, per Der Sechzehner (in German). “He played very well,” the two-time Ballon d’Or winner …

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