Thiago Alcantara will again be looking to clinch a unique treble this season as Liverpool look to go one better in both the Premier League title-race and Champions League. The Reds fell just short in their efforts to win both prizes last year, missing out on the title by a solitary point to Man City on the last day of the season before losing 1-0 to Real Madrid in the European Cup final in Paris.
Now entering the third year of his four-year contract after joining Jurgen Klopp ’s side in 2020, the Spaniard won his first trophies on Merseyside last season as Liverpool clinched a domestic cup double. But should the midfielder go on to win the Premier League, he’ll become a domestic champion in his third major league, while a Champions League win would see the 31-year-old become only the second player, after Clarence Seedorf, to win the European Cup with three different clubs.
The midfielder is a world class player, having previously played for Barcelona and Bayern Munich prior to his £20m switch to Anfield. He won four La Liga titles in five years with the Calatans, along with the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Copa del Rey, before going on to win seven Bundesliga titles, the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup and four DFB-Pokals in seven years in Germany.
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Having played for such European giants, Thiago had played alongside some of the greatest players on the planet long before he joined Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and co. at Liverpool, with Lionel Messi indisputably the best. But there was one Barcelona legend in particular he angered during his time at Camp Nou, as he once infamously earned the wrath of the great Carlos Puyol.
And such was his compatriot’s disappointment, the midfielder was forced to apologise publicly for his behaviour. So what is it Thiago did that was so wrong? Well, he scored a goal. Or rather, the manner of his celebration at the time did not go down well.
In April 2012, in Pep Guardiola ’s last season as Barcelona manager, the Catalans had just lost 2-1 in El Clasico at Camp Nou, to trail Real Madrid in the table by seven points with four games remaining, and been knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals to Chelsea when they travelled to struggling Rayo Vallecano.
Rayo would finish two points above the relegation zone come the end of the season, but were fighting to avoid the drop when they welcomed the reigning Spanish and European champions to town. Unfortunately for them, they were taught a footballing lesson as Barcelona bounced back in memorable style to clinch an emphatic 7-0 victory.
The Catalans were already 4-0 up when Thiago netted their fifth in the 77th minute, finishing from Dani Alves’ cross into the box. The duo celebrated the goal by dancing together, much to the amusement of team-mate Pedro, which was perceived as showboating and rubbing salt in Rayo wounds and, as a result, did not impress their captain or the watching Spanish public.
Puyol reacted furiously, while Guardiola watched on unimpressed from the sidelines, with the defender sprinting up from defence to quickly break up the celebrations as he grabbed both Alves and Thiago before shoving them back towards the halfway line for the restart.
Thiago and Alves didn’t dare argue with Puyol and would apologise for the celebration after the game, as Guardiola also scolded their actions.
“I apologise if I have offended Rayo during the celebration,” Thiago later tweeted. “The emotions running through me made me make a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“I want to apologise to the Rayo fans who felt offended by the dance,” explained Alves. “It was never my intention to offend anyone, I just wanted to have a good time. Because they told me once when I was a child that football was all about having a good time. Besides that, great job by the team.”
“We apologise for it, that’s not the attitude of Barca players,” Guardiola told reporters after the game. “It won’t happen again.”
Having only just turned 21 at the time, Thiago was still young and learnt from his mistake. And despite his manager’s displeasure at the time, the incident didn’t stop Guardiola from reuniting with his compatriot in the summer of 2013 after taking over at Bayern Munich.
Thiago has scored three times since joining Liverpool in 2020, twice against Southampton in the Premier League and once against Porto in the Champions League, with the Spaniard celebrating each strike in a rather more generic manner.
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