Barcelona: 5 Amazing Dani Alves Stats Fans Should Be Talking About

Dani Alves remains the consummate right-back for Barcelona and it will be a sad day indeed if he leaves for pastures new in the summer, as has been rumoured by Charles Perrin of the Daily Express.

Despite approaching the autumn of his career, the stats back up an assertion by Eric Abidal that "Barcelona should offer Dani Alves [a] new contract," per Barcelona TV show La Porteria (paraphrased by Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC).

Let's take a look at five amazing Alves stats that should get the fans talking...

Lionel Messi is more than capable of carving out a chance for himself, however, every great player relies on the service received from the wide areas.

There's no one to touch Dani Alves in this respect, with the Brazilian providing most assists to Barca's main man during his time at the club.

Per an interview with La Vanguardia, via Jonny Singer of the Daily Mail, Alves himself noted:

I've set up more goals for Messi than anyone at Barcelona. That's a fact.

The cross for Messi's goal No 400 for Barca was mine. In Barca's first Club World Cup Leo's winning goal came from my cross. Some people might not like it, but it's there for everyone to see

As might be expected from anyone that dons the Blaugrana jersey, the ability to pass the ball with accuracy is a pre-requisite.

Almost the entire back four do so with aplomb and an 89 percent success rate puts him way above the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, per Squawka.

It is also the same or superior to Douglas and Martin Montoya, the two players who might be considered as a replacement for the Brazilian.

In the attacking third of the pitch, Alves often excels.

Getting forward at every opportunity, the Brazilian can normally be relied upon to provide a ball into the box for the strikers to feed upon.

In the Champions League group stage this season, "Alves attempted more crosses from open play than anyone else" with 37, per Goal.com.

Perhaps one of the most surprising statistics of Alves' 2014/15 season with the Catalans is that he remains the best tackler in the squad, usurping even Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets.

It's a side of his game that is often overlooked given his penchant for playing in the opposite half of the pitch.

Think Football detail Alves' success in this area at 4.3 tackles per game, compared to 3.7 for Busquets and 3.6 for Mascherano.

It may surprise a lot of people that Alves is improving overall and not declining.

His pass accuracy in La Liga is actually at the highest it has been in five years, per WhoScored.com.

In aerial combat, only last season's figures are marginally better, notwithstanding that we still have half of this campaign for Alves to improve further.

Similarly, in terms of assists, he is just one behind last season's total presently, and we can expect that to change come the end of the season.