Thiago Alcantara: Important thing is to be fit and ready for the team

Thiago Alcantara is hoping to contribute in whatever way possible to help Liverpool achieve further success under Jurgen Klopp. The midfielder was restricted to just 30 appearances in all competitions during his first season with the Reds after joining from German giants Bayern Munich in September 2020. However, Thiago returned from a recent injury to make a first Premier League start since September. He was at his usual best on Saturday at Anfield, helping the home side get a big win. Liverpool produced a scintillating display against Arsenal, beating the London side 4-0 in the Premier League. He will now be determined to kick on from that performance and help his team to add more silverware. 

Asked about his return to the starting line-up against Arsenal, he said in a press conference, “First of all, we tried to avoid all the injury situations with hard work and also with our daily routines. We changed some things to make that not happen, but in the end it is part of our job as well. The most important thing is to be fit and ready for the team when you are [fit] – and I think the game against Arsenal was a boost of new energy for us to keep making our game in front of our crowd. It was great: against a traditional, great team, we played our football and we won with that.”

‘Everybody must perform at the highest level’

He was then asked about his partnership with Fabinho in midfield. “As I said when I came here, first of all it’s about trying to win all the games we can, bringing a high performance with that, and also to learn about the football that the coach wants us to play and put that into practice. For me, the most important thing for this team is the hunger we have every game; it doesn’t matter against who we play, we want to win and we want to win our way. It’s not just about who plays, it’s more about the group. It doesn’t matter if [I’m] alongside Fabinho or Fabinho is alongside another player, everybody must perform at the highest level,” he explained.

Thiago has the experience of winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich. The Spaniard then opened up about what he has learned on winning Europe’s elite club competition. “I learned it’s very, very tough to win a Champions League and in more than 10 years of my career, I had the opportunity to be in two finals. So, you can say I won twice but I lost more than eight, so it’s very tough through every stage because we are playing against the best teams and players in the world. We just have to bring our best level to reach it and be better in every game – and with that, if we are in our best mood we can achieve everything,” he explained.

The midfielder was then asked about his first year at Liverpool being disrupted frequently. Speaking about it, he said, “I think it was very interrupted in this first year with Liverpool because of the COVID situation and with injury, but then I had a quick adaptation into the team and into the league. We struggled last season for many reasons.” 

“But in this [first] year, you get to know your teammates much better, the runs they make, how they prefer to receive the ball, how they defend and how they attack. I think with my performances I am open to help the team in different ways as my coach and my teammates want. For me, the most important thing is to be able to try to win as we want to win – and I am part of that.”