FC Porto suffered a surprising loss to C.S. Marítimo in the Portuguese league on November 8. Yet it is precisely that defeat that allowed Portugal international Bruno Alves to initiate a dramatic rise in the FTBL world ranking of defenders.
After scoring one of the goals in the crushing of No. 10 Vitória de Guimarães, Alves added 10.56 rating points to his FTBL score as the game knocked the loss to Marítimo out of his Last Five. Alves became the first representative of a Category 3 league in the top tier of the world ranking after a long absence, but he was once again knocked out of the elite group by Joan Capdevila after Villarreal's 3:2 home win over Getafe in La Liga yesterday.
In his next game in Madrid against Atlético in the Champions League, Alves will face a daunting plank of 27.04 rating points that can be beaten only if he scores at least 2 goals, while Porto win without conceding a single goal: very unlikely.
© FTBL.com