Liverpool fortunate to have 'one of the best players' Thiago, says Mane

Thiago’s talents were on display in his debut match for Liverpool, and Sadio Mane was quick to draw attention to his new teammate.

Thiago Alcantara’s signature for a reported €30 million from Bayern Munich last week marked the end of the lack of any activity in the summer transfer market for Liverpool.

The new signing started the game against Chelsea on the bench and was introduced at half-time to replace Jordan Henderson, who had picked up a slight knock.

He gave the English fans a taste of his extraordinary ability to control the play as the Spanish midfielder forged a new Premier League passing record by completing 75 successful passes.

The former FC Barcelona man completed more passes than any Chelsea player despite entirely missing the first half of the match.

75 – Half-time substitute Thiago completed more passes (75) than any Chelsea player managed in the entire match. Since full passing data is available for the Premier League (2003-04), his 75 successful passes are the most by a player who played a maximum of 45 minutes. Control. pic.twitter.com/UvHfrw1ggN
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 20, 2020

Impressed by the qualities of his new teammate, Sadio Mane, who scored both the goals in his side’s 2-0 win, admits Liverpool are ‘lucky’ to have Thiago in their ranks.

“Not only me, all the world knows what he is capable of doing,” Mane told after the full-time whistle at Stamford Bridge, speaking to Sky Sports.

“He is one of the best players in the world, so we are lucky to have Thiago in our team. And I think he showed that he is a great player.”