Thiago opens up on the one thing Liverpool gave him that Barcelona and Bayern couldn’t | OneFootball

Liverpool have been praised countless times by former players, but few tributes have carried the same weight or sincerity as Thiago Alcantara’s reflection on his time at Anfield.

Speaking to Coaches’ Voice, our former No.6 opened up about how life under Jurgen Klopp shaped him as both a footballer and a person, describing Liverpool as the club that finally gave him the perfect balance between dominance and hard work.

Thiago: ‘At Liverpool I found everything I loved’

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“My time at Liverpool encompassed everything I look for in a club and everything I’d always loved,” he said.

“The feeling of competing for every trophy, of being dominant on the pitch, yet giving off that sense of being a fighting club where every day you have to battle for a goal.

“It wasn’t that we fell short of anything in particular, you just had to really work for it.”

Thiago also spoke warmly about working under Klopp, calling him a “manager capable of adapting every possible situation to the team’s favour”.

He explained that the German’s ability to find positives in every challenge taught him lessons he now uses as part of Hansi Flick’s coaching team at Barcelona.

The Spaniard added: “With Klopp, there are no bad situations; just moments that need to be channelled in a way that makes them favourable to your team.

“He managed to instil that flow of energy, that direction, so everyone followed him.”

The 34-year-old retired last summer and is now part of Flick’s staff in Catalonia, a move Fabrizio Romano recently confirmed was “strongly desired by both men”.

Liverpool supporters will no doubt appreciate how fondly he still speaks of us – particularly after he once joked with Zlatan Ibrahimovic that he doesn’t speak English, he speaks “Scouse”.

Liverpool’s influence continues as Thiago starts coaching career

Picture via fcbarcelona.com

While his body may have given way, Thiago’s passion for the game clearly hasn’t.

He admitted that his transition to coaching came naturally, after years of mentoring younger teammates. “Even when you’re still playing, you start to see patterns, you start to help others,” he said.

“That curiosity for coaching grows. Gradually, when the footballer fades, you start thinking about how to continue using that knowledge of the game.”

Liverpool have seen several former players return to Anfield in coaching or ambassadorial roles, and few would complain if Thiago were one day to follow that path.

For now, he remains in Spain, applying lessons learned from a career that took him through Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and finally, a club he says gave him “everything I loved”.

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