The genius inspiring Reds challenge

LIVERPOOL. - Winning a quadruple of major trophies this season has been described by many - including Liverpool’s own players - as almost

impossible.

But if they do achieve it, a significant reason for that will be the form of one man in recent weeks: Thiago Alcantara.

The Spain midfielder has stepped up at just the right time for the Reds, producing man-of-the-match performances on an almost weekly basis as Jurgen Klopp’s side chase success in the Premier League and Champions League to add to their FA Cup and League Cup wins.

Thiago was sensational in both legs against Villarreal as Liverpool reached another European final, helped the Reds to the FA Cup on Saturday and has been consistently excellent in the Premier League as his side have kept up the pressure on Manchester City at the top of the table.

When Liverpool signed Thiago from Bayern Munich in September 2020 for the relatively small sum of £20m - it was rightly lauded as an incredible bit of business by the club.

But Thiago endured a difficult start at Liverpool as his impact was hampered by contracting Covid-19 soon after his arrival, as well as injuries.

Belgian football journalist Kristof Terreur added: “He is ideal in those games when you have a team that drops deep, he is the man of control.

“When he moved to Liverpool I was thinking what is he going to do there? In my eyes he is the ideal Pep player and Pep thinks that too. But Klopp put a bit of Pep in his team so that’s evolution too.

“He organises everything and is such a beautiful player to watch.”

Thiago’s current statistics speak for themselves.

Since a 1-0 home defeat by Chelsea in March 2021, Thiago has started 36 games for Liverpool and the Reds have lost just once - a 1-0 home defeat by Inter Milan in the Champions League last 16 second leg last month, when they progressed anyway.

Of the 10 Premier League games Liverpool have failed to win this season, Thiago was missing for six of them.

In the 2-0 win against Everton in the Merseyside derby recently, Thiago completed more passes than the entire Toffees team, while in his sublime display against Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League he had a passing accuracy of 96 percent.

Those passes were not just over five yards, either, with many coming in the final third and nine long-ball efforts going straight to their target.

“I think sometimes those stats can be misleading - the 96 percent, 98 percent from players who give it five, 10 yards,” former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch said during BT Sport’s coverage of the Villarreal game.

“He wins the ball and he’s hitting it 30, 40 yards or he’s playing it through the lines. He’s not someone who passes sideways and backwards.”