was his newfound diligence without it which
impressed most in Germany.
“The first idea was defence,” explains Falk.
“Bayern had won the Treble with a pair of
defensive midfielders and wanted to have
that solid base before looking to go forward.
Thiago had to adapt – he was already perfect
in an attacking sense, but had to learn the
defensive side. For someone of his style to
learn that in a side as demanding as Bayern
was very impressive.
“After seven years in Germany, he’s now
the complete player. He’s got all the skills he
brought from Barça and has learned what he
needs for playing defensively at Bayern.”
Thiago relished the challenge of adapting
to a league and system, even after mentor
Guardiola left Bavaria after three seasons.
“Football is football and I’m not bothered
about which part of the world I’m in,” he
said a couple of years ago. “I’ve learned that
the organisation and structure of a team is
so much more important than I ever did
before. It’s a privilege to play in this league.”
Thiago’s Bayern team-mates adored his
upbeat nature around the dressing room, as
well as the perfect technique which started
countless attacks – even if he never actually
managed more than six assists in any of his
seven campaigns at the club.
“He doesn’t wait for the gaps to appear,”
said Michael Ballack, the former Bayern and
Chelsea midfielder. “He makes them appear.”
Xabi Alonso once told FFT that, “Thiago
was the best passer I’ve ever seen”, Franck
Ribery calls him the best technician he’s ever
played with, while Joshua Kimmich has also
recalled how inferior he felt to the No.6 in his
first training sessions with Bayern.
Despite becoming a complete midfielder in
Germany and winning every Bundesliga title
he competed for, though, Thiago could never
quite convince the public that he merited
that ‘special’ status bestowed upon him in
Spain. Too often, bemoaned some fans and
pundits in Germany, he didn’t live up to his
billing in the biggest games – particularly in
Champions League knockout defeats against
Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid (twice), Barça
and, most recently, Liverpool in 2018-19.
“The criticism was always that Thiago was
playing really well, but you didn’t see him in
the big games – I think this discussion wore
him down,” says journalist Falk.
“His main problem is that he’s not Lothar
Matthaus or Stefan Effenberg – the guy who
tackles, runs with the ball and either scores
or assists goals. That just isn’t Thiago. He was
loved within the club, but less so in the press
simply because he didn’t produce the final
pass for team-mates or score.
“I don’t think he was appreciated enough.
He was the boss on the pitch, he created the
play, but he didn’t get the appreciation from
the fans that he deserved.”
The irony is that Matthaus was actually one
of Thiago’s biggest fans, and even compared
him to Diego Maradona.
“Their movements are similar, with the ball
tied to their feet,” said the 150-cap Germany
international, who enjoyed many battles with
El Diego. “The ball just obeys them.”
In this season’s Champions League final,
however, Thiago definitively answered his
critics. At his fluid best in that era-ending 8-2
defeat of Barcelona in the quarter-finals, he
then delivered the huge, all-encompassing
midfield display against Paris Saint-Germain
which helped to seal Bayern’s sixth European
crown in Lisbon.
It was Thiago who controlled the game’s
tempo, and Thiago who found Kimmich with
a line-splitting pass that turned defence into
attack in the build-up to Kingsley Coman’s
second-half winner.
“It was a difficult ball to Kimmich, but he
managed it when Bayern needed him most,”
remembers Falk.
“Thiago showed his quality in their biggest
game of all. Maybe there’s some truth to the
accusations that he didn’t play his best in
the biggest games, but his career came full
circle. It’s ironic his best moment came in his
last match, but by that point he had already
made it clear that he wanted to go.”Thiago and his family were very happy and
settled in Munich, but the 29-year-old had
flip-flopped over signing a new contract –
effectively his final contract at elite level. He
couldn’t satisfy the itch to try something new.
Nor could he shake how impressed he was
when Liverpool had knocked Bayern out of
the Champions League in 2019.
So, when Klopp made his move – despite
some reported late interest from Barcelona
and Manchester United – Thiago’s mind was
already made up.
“You’ll think I’m crazy,” he augured to the
Bayern hierarchy at a meeting where they
expected him to sign a new deal, “but I want
a new challenge.”
On his last day in Munich, having signed off
in such a perfect manner and confirmed just
what a player Bayern were losing, he cleared
out his locker at the Sabener Strasse training
ground and sought out chairman Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge. They hugged for five minutes,
both in tears.44 November 2020 FourFourTwo
THIAGO
ALCAn TARA