Thiago made his return from injury for Liverpool during their 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

The midfielder had been sidelined since September with a calf injury but came on in the second half as he completes his recovery.

Liverpool fans were delighted to see the Spaniard return to the pitch.

ENTER GIVEAWAY

ENTER GIVEAWAY

During his 30 minutes on the pitch, Thiago completed 89% of his 32 passes as he dictated the play against the 10 men.

Thiago offers something different for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

His ability to make incisive passes and split the lines is something that other midfielders in Liverpool’s squad often struggle with.

At the age of 30, Thiago is still one of the very best midfielders in world football and if he can remain fit between now and the end of the season, Liverpool will have every chance of having a successful campaign.

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But while Thiago may possess an incredible passing range, he doesn’t always get it right.

And as we enter November with the festive period just around the corner, we want to reminisce a light-hearted moment involving Thiago and a certain Santa Claus.

While playing for Bayern Munich, Thiago spotted Santa Claus making a great run up the left wing during a match. Instinctively, Thiago immediately played the ball in his path. However, after looking up, Thiago realised it was actually an advertising board and Santa was obviously wearing red and white like Bayern.

To spare Thiago immense embarrassment, a teammate raced back to keep the ball in play.

VIDEO: Thiago passes to Santa Claus

But that didn’t spare Thiago being the butt of some jokes.

The club’s official Twitter account (US edition) announced that ‘Santa Claus’ has signed a contract with Bayern Munich with then manager Carlo Ancelotti being quoted as saying: "He's deceptively fast, and makes blistering runs down the wing. His relationship with Thiago is already in place."

Thiago Bayern Munich
Thiago Bayern Munich

Brilliant.

Thiago has now been at Liverpool for more than a year and, recently, Klopp insisted there was “much more” to come from the midfielder.

"Much more, because the start was not perfect," Klopp said when asked what to expect from Thiago going forward.

"He came here, got COVID, got injured early and stuff like this. That, of course, makes things more difficult but he showed what kind of player he can be for us and will be for us. So, there's a lot more to come, of course.

"Maybe it's now a year but if you want it's actually only half a year because of all the things that happened around. Coming to a new club in the most difficult period of all our lives, he settled really well despite that. His family is here, loves it here. He's in the middle of the team – it was very quick the case – and he's a really good character and really good personality and obviously a world-class player. So, all fine."

He better watch out for Santa on those advertising boards around Anfield in the coming weeks, though.

Liverpool on FIRE! Felipe RED CARD! Liverpool 2-0 Atletico Madrid (The Football Terrace)