Dani Alves extends advantage as most decorated footballer of all-time as Brazil best Spain for Olympic gold

Brazilian legend Dani Alves this afternoon etched his name ever further into the history books of world football.

Alves’ Brazil were back in action a short time ago.

After getting the better of Mexico in a penalty shootout earlier this week, the Selecao made the trip to the Nissan Stadium, for a finale showdown with heavyweights Spain.

A tense, tightly contested affair was widely predicted ahead of kick-off, with neither nation having exactly set the tournament alight to date.

And, when all was said and done, this is precisely the kind of clash which played out.

Brazil took the lead on the stroke of the interval, when, after Richarlison had fluffed his lines from the penalty spot, Matheus Cunha made no mistake from a Dani Alves assist.

Spain, though, refused to lie down, and subsequently levelled things up on the hour mark, through Mikel Oyarzabal.

The matchup, in turn, was forced to extra-time, with Zenit St. Petersburg attacker Malcom, twelve minutes from time, having produced the afternoon’s telling moment.

After being set free down the left, the ex-Barcelona man did superbly to control, surge into the area, before picking out the far corner in style:

Brazil, your 2021 men’s Olympic gold medalists.

On the back of the action coming to a close in Japan, meanwhile, much of the talk understandably, has since surrounded the latest remarkable achievement of Brazilian icon Dani Alves.

The Sao Paulo star is now 38 years of age, but proved once again this summer that age is little more than a number in leading his country to their latest international triumph.

Alves cut the figure of a player ten years his junior, steaming up and down the right flank with equal vigour and quality.

In turn, it feels only right to highlight what his latest achievement means when it comes to the full-back’s frankly staggering career as a whole.

As revealed online in the aftermath of today’s action, Alves has now secured no fewer than 43 pieces of silverware across his time in football, comfortably more than any other in the game’s history.