Alves certain of Guardiola staying

Barcelona defender Dani Alves said he is ‘convinced’ that Pep Guardiola will sign a new deal with the Catalan club.

Guardiola, who has led the club to 13 titles since taking charge in 2008, is out of contract at the end of the season and has yet to decide whether to sign one of his customary one-year extensions.

However, Alves said he remains optimistic that the 41-year-old boss will soon commit his future to the reigning European and Spanish champions.

“I think that Guardiola will sign again because without him we’re nothing,” the Brazil international said.

“Without him we’d lose our anchor and we’d drift away. Guardiola has given us stability.”

Alves added that it would be impossible for anyone to accuse the former Spain international of leaving the club in the lurch, should Guardiola not renew his contract.

“If he decides not to stay on, it wouldn’t be a betrayal of Barca,” the right-back insisted.

“You need a happy medium in life. If he goes, everything he’s done for the club will remain.”

While Barcelona have reached the final of the Copa del Rey and appear to have all but sealed their Champions League last-eight spot following their victory at Bayer Leverkusen last week, the Catalans face a real battle to hold onto their La Liga crown.

The reigning champions are 10 points adrift of leaders Real Madrid, and Alves admitted that their performances on the road this term have not been up to scratch.

“The gap is perhaps a bit overstated but we must have made some mistakes to be where we are,” he said.

“We’ve played badly in patches away from home.”

“We’ve lacked balance when pushing forward. But there’s still time to improve.”

“We have to take the Valencia match as an example.”