‘He was above everyone’: 30-year-old says £20m Liverpool player was next level in training

Follow us on Google Discover

Dani Pacheco has lavished praise on Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara.

Thiago, who joined Liverpool for £20 million in 2020, is one of the best technicians Jurgen Klopp has available to him on Merseyside.

Then again, being a Barcelona product, what else can you expect?

The 30-year-old came through the ranks at the Spanish club’s famous La Masia academy ­- along with Pacheco, who joined Liverpool in 2007.

The Spanish pair played alongside one another at youth level for club and country.

And the winger, who now plays in Cyprus, has revealed that the Reds midfielder was just ‘above everyone’ else and noted the gulf in class he displayed during training sessions.

He told The Echo: “We were all amazing players for our age, selected from every part of Spain, but Thiago was above everyone.

“You run in behind him in training, when he is looking to the other side, and think you are going to get the ball from him, and when you arrive to him, he is already gone. He touched the ball and he goes. He had the ball all the time and never lost it.”

Finally back

Let’s face it, Thiago is a level above most players and Liverpool fans will be hoping to see evidence of it tonight.

The former Barca and Bayern Munich star hasn’t kicked a ball under Klopp for about six weeks due to injury.

But Thiago trained as normal ahead of the Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid tonight.

And it seems possible that Klopp may play him in midfield again.

Then again, this isn’t Thiago’s first injury since joining Liverpool and it won’t be his last.

He is somewhat fragile when it comes to fitness and the German manager may well elect to keep him in reserve until he’s 100 percent ready, if he isn’t there already.