Analysis on Full backs in Europe’s top 5 leagues

The full-back is a defender who plays in a wide position, besides the center-backs. They operate at two ends of the defensive line of a football team. The left-back and right-back positions were considered to be the least important of all the positions on a football pitch. The full-backs of the yesteryears were expected to contribute only to defence. Not much importance was given to this position for a very long time. As the game evolved, so did the full-backs. Some full-backs turned into what they call in the modern game as wing-backs. They would progress forward, frequently making progressive runs and assisting in creating attacks from the wings. In the 1960s, Brazilian full-back Carlos Alberto attacked aggressively while also fulfilling defensive duties. After his performance in the 1970 world cup, many football managers started noting what more a player can offer from a full-back position. Only in the 1990s did we finally see a resurgence of attacking full-backs. The Brazilian full-back duo of Roberto Carlos and Cafu displayed a highly offensive style of play. The Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos, famous for his freekick against France, which defied history, scored over 100 goals in his career and assisted over 120 goals. From the 2000s, full-backs such as Phillip Lahm, Marcelo, Ashley Cole, Dani Alves, and Leighton Baines emerged, defended, attacked, and achieved legendary status.

Nowadays, you would often see a lot of full backs running up and down the wings to manage both defence and attack. One of the top managers in the world and probably the greatest ever, Pep Guardiola developed a new position for Manchester City full-backs Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, and Oleksandr Zinchenko — an inverted full-back where they would slot in the midfield and allow midfielders to progress while also contributing to both attack and defence. Guardiola’s big rival Jurgen Klopp marshaled Liverpool to a UCL trophy in 2019 and their first league title in 30 years in 2020. Their full-back pairing of Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold was one of the top reasons behind Liverpool’s recent success. Real Madrid’s three-peat between 2016–18 saw Marcelo and Dani Carvajal contribute vigorously to the attack. FC Barcelona’s MSN in their heydays were assisted a lot by their full-backs Dani Alves and Jordi Alba. For Bayern Munich, after Philip Lahm, we saw Joshua Kimmich excelling in a similar role. Although he now plays in defensive midfield, the full-backs positions are occupied by Alphonso Davies, Lucas Hernandez, and…