Did you miss the first 2 games? Alves was excellent defensively. Won the ball back several times with good tackles, made a number of interceptions, etc. it was going forward he was poor.
He had 7 tackles, 6 interceptions, and 2 clearances in his first 2 games here.
Last year he had 4.1 tackles/game, 1.5 interceptions/game, 1.0 clearances/game. Lichtsteiner had 1.0 tackles/game, 0.5 interceptions/game, and 1.1 clearances/game.
Alves played RB. Behind and overlapping with a RWF in Messi. He was always very solid defensively, hence the reason Messi has never had to do any defensive work.
I have no idea where this absurd misconception came about that Alves is a poor defender.
@CrimsonianKing