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How will Ousmane Dembélé and Nélson Semedo adapt to Barcelona?

By Chiranjib Ghosh

LENS, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 15: Ousmane Dembele of France looks on during the International Friendly match between France and Ivory Coast held at Stade Felix Bollaert Deleis on November 15, 2016 in Lens, France. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
LENS, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 15: Ousmane Dembele of France looks on during the International Friendly match between France and Ivory Coast held at Stade Felix Bollaert Deleis on November 15, 2016 in Lens, France. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /
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Nélson Semedo – The dark horse

BARCELONA, SPAIN – AUGUST 20: Nelson Semedo of FC Barcelona looks back during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Real Betis Balompie at Camp Nou stadium on August 20, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN – AUGUST 20: Nelson Semedo of FC Barcelona looks back during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Real Betis Balompie at Camp Nou stadium on August 20, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images) /

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Nélson Semedo was a regular in the Benfica first-team after the Portuguese club decided to promote him from the reserves team. He did very well for Benfica, becoming a starter for Portugal in the process. But this season, he will face challenges he has never faced before.

Dani Alves was one of the best right-backs in the world when he played for Barcelona. He was the perfect fusion of attack and defence. He was as quick in getting back to defend as he was in making overlapping runs. Alves teamed up with Lionel Messi to dissect defences while he teamed up Carles Puyol to stop attacks and initiate counter-attacks.

On the right side of defense, players of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann will seek to dribble past Semedo. While he displayed his attacking prowess for Portugal in the Euros, he is yet to prove himself as a defender. Semedo has the ability to team up with Lionel Messi like Alves did, but it remains to be seen if he can defend as well as Alves.