It has been a strange kind of season for Barcelona captain Jordi Alba so far. Normally one of the first names on the team sheet, the 33-year-old veteran has seen his stature within the side fall drastically in the current campaign.
Indeed, after a disappointing display in the season opener against Rayo Vallecano, Xavi decided to bench Alba in favour of teenage prospect Alejandro Balde. And the young La Masia product has taken full advantage of the situation by establishing himself as the first choice in the position.
Furthermore, the arrival of Marcos Alonso late in the summer has served to push Alba further down the pecking order.
Indeed, the ex-Chelsea ace was preferred for the high-profile encounter against Bayern Munich this week even though he had played just 12 minutes of football up until that point this term. It served to indicate that Alba is now the third-choice left-back at Barcelona.
And, as reported by MARCA, such a situation has put his spot in Spain’s squad for the FIFA World Cup 2022 under serious threat.
Of the seven matches that Barcelona have played in all competitions this term, Alba has featured in just four, racking up a mere 216 minutes of action.
Given his reduced involvement, Spain manager Luis Enrique might not consider him for a spot in the World Cup squad, with other options like Jose Gaya (Valencia), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea) and even Alonso available at his disposal.
Alba was offered a way out of this by Barcelona as they had reached an agreement with Inter Milan late in the transfer window to loan the veteran left-back out for the rest of the campaign.
However, the 33-year-old opted to stay and fight for his place at Spotify Camp Nou. His decision may now end up costing him a place on the flight to Qatar come November.
