Thiago Alcántara can no longer bear the pain and, helplessly, has decided at the age of 33 to end his football career after his contract with Liverpool expired. Injuries have tortured an exquisite player with an extraordinary resume completed in three teams of the category of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Liverpool that includes two Champions Leagues, two Club World Cups, four Leagues, seven Bundesligas, an FA Cup, two English League Cups and a European Championship under-17 and under-21 with Spain. He has not achieved continental titles or the World Cup with the senior team since his debut in 2011 – he has 46 international caps – precisely because of muscular and traumatic ailments that also limited at team level a brilliant career since his debut as a Barça player in May 2009 against Mallorca.
Thiago was applauded for his intention, without waiting for the execution, as had only been seen before with Iván de la Peña, two midfielders who have gotten the public out of their seats to applaud and the coaches on their bench to complain about the risk taken – nobody was more irritated by a loss than Van Gaal. The artist Thiago visualised the play before anyone else, he oriented himself and anticipated, he matched his sinewy body to the rhythm of the ball, he moved with constant energy and his catalogue of technical resources was so admirable – controls, turns, hits – that he did not allow the innocuous pass but rather a brilliant one, as if it were a goal, so that it was or it was not, without half measures, demanding of himself like no other footballer since his beginnings at La Masia. Nobody doubted his talent and daring, but the problem was in the continuity, conditioned by technical decisions and injuries: Thiago played against Thiago.
“As youth players, we train to be able to reach the first team and, once you have achieved that, it is about being a protagonist, to the point that if you don’t see it possible you look to see if other doors open,” he confessed after leaving the Barça club in 2013. Thiago had a signed contract with a 90 million release clause that rose to 18 million if he did not play 60% of the games with Barça. Thiago went from playing 63% of the games to 47% in his last season, with the approval of the Barça club, and found an optimal exit at Bayern Munich, where he was coached by one of his trusted coaches, Guardiola. The transfer was closed for 25 million and the competitive Thiago, the 15th player in the Barcelona squad, reached his peak during seven seasons in Bavaria with Guardiola, Ancelotti and Flick.
“Football is a global language,” he admitted in an interview with EL PAÍS, after praising Ancelotti – “it’s freedom; he never speaks in vain” – and Guardiola: “He taught me positional play, to then understand constant mobility, always from passion and commitment,” added Thiago, especially happy later with Flick in Portugal when they won that Champions League in which they started by beating Barça (2-8). It is not ruled out that both will meet again now at the Barça club and Thiago will begin his career as a coach as Flick’s assistant. His time as a player is over at Liverpool, the club he left as continental champion in 2020, seduced by Klopp and after paying more than 20 million to Bayern. The physical ordeal prevented him from being a regular at Anfield.
“I have never enjoyed football as much as when I was a child,” Thiago once reflected. “Football for me is a responsible pastime,” concluded the player, brother of Rafinha, son of Mazinho. “My father was very reliable, he had an incredible pass and I have not seen anyone with his sense of defence or his tactical rigour,” defined Thiago himself, who never acted against his own nature, footballing and now physical, overcome by pain and also knowing that he can no longer compete to polish a career that, in any case, will always be presided over by an intangible trophy: the quality of his football.
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