João Cancelo’s journey from hating defending to gamechanging full-back

When João Cancelo was in Benfica’s B team, he had little interest in defending but his coach still made a bet with him that he would become one of the best five right-backs in the world. Hélder Cristóvão knew the heights the teenager from Barreiro, just south of Lisbon, would reach.

Full-backs have had problems at Manchester City and at Liverpool, their opponents on Sunday, this season: Kyle Walker is injured, Andy Robertson has suffered niggles, while Trent Alexander-Arnold has struggled for form and now fitness. Cancelo, however, has offered quality and consistency throughout.

The Portugal international has started every Premier League and Champions League game this season for Pep Guardiola, the only outfielder to do so. He is equally adept on either side of defence, although pigeonholing him as a full-back would be unfair considering the breadth of his responsibilities from back to front.

“The versatility is great for João because he is happiest when he has the ball,” Cristóvão says. “When he was young, when he did not have the ball, he did not want to play. If we did an exercise with ball possession and his team had the ball, for João it was like candy but when they lost the ball it was boring for him. He would ask: ‘Why don’t we have the ball? Why do I need to suffer like this? Why do I need to close down?’”

When Cancelo arrived at City from Juventus, Guardiola was less trusting of the defender, making him Walker’s understudy until fate forced him over to the left-hand side due to a lack of options. Being liberated has got the best out of him. “He always sees the solution before the other guys,” Cristóvão says. “When the space is closed, he can see another route to pass. He is very strong, very fast. He hasn’t