Jordi Alba named Barça's 4th captain

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Jordi Alba named Barça's 4th captain

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The experienced left back has joined Busquets, Piqué and Sergi Roberto in the group of captains

Jordi Alba has been named FC Barcelona's fourth captain.

Despite being favourite for the position, given his years of service to the club, there were no guarantees that this honour would be bestowed upon him. After all, the decision is made by the dressing room and nothing can be taken for granted in these kinds of situations. He is now fourth in line behind Sergi Roberto (3rd), Gerard Piqué (2nd) and Sergio Busquets (1st).

Yesterday's announcement

During yesterday's official squad presentation, the players entered the pitch one-by-one in order of squad number, starting with goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen. The German was the other main candidate for the role of fourth captain, so the fact that he was introduced so early on - without being named as a member of this leadership group - was a bit of a giveaway.

The second giveaway was when Sergio Aguero's name was read out to the crowd following the presentation of Ansu Fati, jumping straight from number 17 to number 19. Alba's number 18 had been left until the end, which erased any remaining doubt about the identity of the new member of this leadership group.

The four captains were announced after the rest of the squad, which is when the Barça left back was officially confirmed as the club's fourth captain. It came as no real surprise, as he had already worn the armband during extra-time and penalties of Barça's Spanish Supercup defeat to Real Sociedad last season when Messi, Piqué and Roberto were not on the pitch.

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