DBasia.news – Thiago Alcantara and Pep Guardiola, the two figures from Spain who are familiar with each other has continued to be brought together in the realm of England, but no longer as players and coaches at one club, but as opponents. The story of the two has long been woven since in Spain.
In the 2008-2012 period Barcelona went through a golden era under the direction of Pep Guardiola. Offensive football, entertaining, tiki-taka, and everything expected of a football match was displayed by Barca at that time.
Guardiola’s success ended with three LaLiga titles, two Copa del Rey, three Spanish Super Cups and two Champions Leagues. Guardiola invested many La Masia players into the first team and of course Lionel Messi is the leader on Barca’s front lines.
During that period, Guardiola also launched Thiago Alcantara, a Brazilian player born in Italy but is a Spanish citizen. Thiago was promoted from Barca B in 2009 and played in the first team until 2013.
During his three years at Barcelona Thiago embodied Guardiola’s philosophy of football. The trust in him has been established from a young age, Thiago played side by side with Sergio Busquets, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta and learnt from the three legendary names.
No wonder that at a young age Thiago has won two LaLiga titles, one Copa del Rey, two Spanish Super Cups and one Champions League.
“He (Thiago) has many qualities, above all is his mentality. He always thinks anything is possible. He has no fear,” said Guardiola of Thiago.
The story continues to Germany
A year after Guardiola left Spain and coached Bayern Munich (2013), Guardiola’s top priority was to bring Thiago, who is expected to practice his philosophy of football in the Bayern squad.
A dowry of 25 million euros was issued by Bayern to recruit Thiago from Barcelona. The recruitment of Thiago proved to be effective, because during the three years under Guardiola’s direction, Thiago was the key to Bayern’s success in midfield.
Bayern’s dominance in the Bundesliga was unstoppable with three Bundesliga titles, two DFB Pokal, one European Super Cup and the Club World Cup. Thiago easily adapted and spread Guardiola’s philosophy of football within the Bayern squad.
Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller and other players understood what Guardiola wants in football. Despite failing to win the Champions League title, Bayern were very dominant in the league and played football that entertained the audience.
“Of all the coaches we have here, and Barca, he (Guardiola) has the highest intensity, the most concentration,” Thiago said of Guardiola.
“You have the same intense training sessions as play. You are tuned to learn and hone your game.”
“With other coaches, training sessions can be a little more fun, but with Pep it’s always concentration,” he added.
Guardiola left in 2016 and Thiago this time did not follow in the coach’s footsteps, he stayed at Bayern. When Guardiola started his adventure in England with Manchester City, Thiago was growing with Bayern.
Carlo Ancelotti further perfected Thiago’s game. From a midfielder who used to make the transition to play, dribbled the ball and explored space, Thiago was used as a pivot (anchor midfielder). Ancelotti took advantage of his playing vision and accurate passes.
“My style is not just because of Barca. There is also the Brazilian idea of a pivot. Barca gives you the philosophy to understand the game. The rest, you take along the way,” explained Thiago.
“For me, there is a lot of variety in football. It’s not always about controlling the game. It’s about controlling your actions.”
“It’s your well trained action, and executed in the best possible way, against your opponent. It’s control. If it’s a long ball it has to be done in a controlled manner. You dominate the rivals through execution. You play each game with the goal in view. “
“That, for me, is control – that everything you practice will work out,” he stressed.
Reunion Back in England
When Guardiola first arrived in England, Thiago chose to stay at Bayern and only caught up with him in 2020, after presenting the treble winners of the Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and the Champions League for Bayern.
Thiago always leaves a club after giving everything and achieving success, no doubt his departure has left no regrets for his former clubs.
Liverpool accommodated him with a tag of 20 million pounds with an additional fund of five million pounds. So far Thiago has not lived up to expectations at Liverpool, but this is understandable with the player’s adaptation process.
Guardiola never doubted it, nor did Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, although club legend, Dietmar Hamann thinks Thiago has slowed Liverpool’s game down.
The point of Hamann’s words is a slow tempo as Thiago took control of the ball too long before passing it, while Liverpool had a quick game and the ball went straight to the fast runners, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.