By Pete Jenson for MailOnline
Published: 14:14 GMT, 12 February 2019 | Updated: 14:15 GMT, 12 February 2019
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In among the boxes containing the record-breaking 39 medals that Dani Alves has won over the years, there are the two Champions Leagues medals he picked up playing for Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, both from finals against Manchester United.
He missed the first through suspension - picking up a booking at Stamford Bridge in the semi-final – but starred in the second at Wembley.
It’s a measure of his longevity that ten years on from that first final in Rome, he is ready to face United again on Tuesday night for Paris Saint Germain at Old Trafford.
PSG defender Dani Alves is chasing a sensational 40th career title this season
The Brazilian is still raring to go and will play against Manchester United on Tuesday night
Such was his relationship with Guardiola that when he decided to leave Juventus in 2017 (his first stop after Barça) his next club was so nearly Manchester City.
Guardiola felt at the time that one of the things he most lacked at City was players who were completely convinced by his methods.
Alves was always a believer. He had been Guardiola’s first signing at Barcelona in 2008. He once called Guardiola ‘football’s Einstein’ and he wasn’t being sarcastic.
For all that Guardiola wanted his former right-back at the Etihad, the fact that Alves was already 34 made City reluctant to offer more than a one-year deal. PSG offered two years and Alves was also made aware of the possibility that his pal Neymar would also arrive that summer.
So it was that Alves went to Ligue 1 – the denim waistcoat with leopard skin lapels, drop-crotch sweatpants and glittery Regency slippers would never been seen striding through a Premier League mixed zone. And more