The passing years often make people lose their concept of the present, as if yesterday's football was still the world of the post-90s, and today has become the farewell season of the post-90s. Recently, the 33-year-old Thiago decided to retire from his career at the end of a 13-year career, and he has not even had time to start retiring. When the stars either went to Saudi Arabia to make money or went to the MLS to enjoy the blessings, Thiago's ability to hang up his boots at Liverpool was also a kind of decent abrupt end, without dragging mud and water, leaving fans with all the memories of the giants.
As the second generation of the ball, Thiago and his younger brother Raphinha do not seem to have been blessed by too much starlight from their father Mazinho. Young fans may have forgotten the name Mazinho, but the famous cradle dance scene in the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup is well known. Bebeto celebrated with a lullaby after his goal against the Netherlands, joined by Romario and Mazinho. Mazinjo spent most of his club career in Brazil, but his international career was successful enough, winning the 1989 Copa America and the 1994 World Cup with the Samba Army. Thiago and Raphinha both have Brazilian-Spanish citizenship, with the younger brother Raphinha choosing to follow in his father's footsteps and playing for the Brazilian national team, while Thiago became a Spanish international. However, Thiago's peak came just in time for the sunset of Spanish football, as he played as a substitute at Euro 2016, the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020, with the Matadors failing to win the title.
Thiago's choice to join the Spanish national team is not surprising, after all, he is a La Masia academy product, and after a few tests, he was officially promoted to the Barcelona first team in the summer of 2011. At that time, although Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admired Thiago's talent, the team sat on the midfield iron triangle Habaibu, and the young Thiago could only wait for the opportunity to bloom. In the summer of 2013, after contributing 11 goals and 20 assists in 100 appearances for Barcelona, Thiago joined Bayern Munich and joined Pep Guardiola, winning four La Liga, one Copa del Rey, two Spanish Super Cups, one Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup and one Club World Cup.
When Alonso spent the last three years of his career at Bayern, Thiago also took on the role of a midfield stumbling man. If the most impressive of Alonso's three major career was the Liverpool period, then Thiago, who also experienced three major career periods, is the most memorable for fans is the seven years of Bayern. With 235 appearances, 31 goals and 37 assists, he was part of the Bundesliga winning dynasty at the end of the Bundesliga and was able to share the core treble of Flick's six titles. Leaving aside whether Thiago said goodbye to Bayern Munich or not, it was a little surprising that he failed to reunite with Pep Guardiola in the Premier League, instead joining Uncle Guardiola's rival Jurgen Klopp.
As a midfield maestro with many statistics such as dribbling passes and even interceptions and tackles, Thiago joined Liverpool with technical poverty alleviation, but injuries forced him to age prematurely until he fell silent. Thiago made just one substitute appearance for Liverpool in all competitions in 2023/24 before leaving the Reds as a free agent this summer. He made 98 appearances in four years, contributed three goals and six assists, and won one FA Cup, one EFL Cup and one Community Shield, which may not be enough for Anfield to remember, but fans will regret that the Reds have never held hands with Thiago at the top of his game and written a Premier League story.
(The original address of this article: public account Xiwa Sports)