It’s been an incredible few days for Liverpool Football Club.On Friday, they announced the £25 million signing of Thiago from Bayern Munich.For weeks, if not months, the Premier League champions had been linked with the Spaniard and fans were delighted that a deal was finally struck for one of the best midfielders in world football.Then, 24 hours later, they confirmed the signing of Diogo Jota from Wolves.Two first-team signings in the space of 24 hours.
There was only one way to complete a sensational few days - with victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
And they did just that with a 2-0 victory thanks to a Sadio Mane brace.
Thiago was named on the bench, while Jota was ineligible.
However, the midfielder was called upon after just 45 minutes with the scores still at 0-0. Captain Jordan Henderson had to be replaced due to a tight thigh muscle, allowing Thiago to make his debut.
He would be coming on against 10-man Chelsea after Andreas Christensen had been shown a red card in the closing stages of the first-half for bringing down Mane.
It meant Thiago was allowed plenty of space in midfield and he certainly used it.
He always wanted to ball and dictated the pace of the match as soon as he stepped foot on it.
Within nine minutes of Thiago being on the pitch, Liverpool had scored twice. Okay, that may not have been directly as a result of his performance but he certainly showed his class immediately.
He did, however, concede a penalty with 15 minutes remaining for tripping Timo Werner. However, Alisson bailed out his new teammate by saving Jorginho’s penalty.
It was the only blot on his copybook in an otherwise very exciting 45 minute debut.
In fact, he actually broke a Premier League record in the second half. According to Opta, not only did Thiago complete more passes than any other Chelsea player, his 75 successful passes are the most by a player who played 45 minutes.
Wow.
Don’t believe the numbers? Check out his individual highlights below and see for yourself just how good he was:
Before the match, Jurgen Klopp was asked whether he had considered starting Thiago to which he replied: "I didn't think a second about starting him today. It's really funny that people could consider that.
"Bayern and Liverpool, [the way] we play - there might be similar parts."But for sure he played a different position. Whatever he plays for us it's different. So there's no chance!"
At that point, he probably didn’t expect Thiago to be coming on at half-time but he’ll be absolutely delighted with his performance on his debut.
He’s only going to get better, too!