Thiago‘s last visit to Wembley in a cup final did not quite go to plan thanks to an injury in the warm-up, and the Spaniard is ready to replace that “bittersweet” feeling on Saturday.
The 31-year-old has been nothing short of exemplary this season for Jurgen Klopp and has continually left fans with their jaws dropped thanks to his wizardry on the pitch.
Luck has not entirely been on Thiago‘s side since moving to Anfield, with injury and Covid forcing a stop-start pattern to his game time.
But in recent weeks and months, the Spaniard has been a consistent force and keeping him fit and available has become key to the Reds’ pursuit of every piece of silverware possible this season.
Liverpool, of course, clinched the first without Thiago thanks to an injury picked up in the League Cup final warm-up, leaving him in tears on the sidelines as the game kicked off.
Thiago explained the heightened emotions came from the struggles of the previous year, personally and as a team.
“It came to my mind that the last season was very hard for myself to try to be here and not having the fans in the stadium, not having this fun that this sport gives to you,” Thiago told the club’s official website when reflecting on his emotions in the League Cup final.
“We fought a lot to arrive in that moment, that you can play in a final, and then suddenly because I had a bad thing, a bad neck problem and it caused just like a chain of movement that in the end caused me an injury in the hammy.
“It’s a moment where you are just frustrated. You just calm down a bit, you try to be cold enough to face the final. It was as it was.
“We won it and, for sure, it’s bittersweet that you don’t play that game, but you’re happy for the team.
“Lifting a trophy is a special moment but it was more for the frustrating situation that everybody had the last few years.
“It was because of what we have been through and was a kind of celebration of overcoming that situation.”
The FA Cup final represents the first chance to complete the set under Klopp, and the significance of the trophy is not lost on Thiago as he looks to add another successful chapter in Liverpool’s history book.
“We came from other countries – not just me but other players – and just met this amazing competition, the oldest in the world,” Thiago explained.
“We are really excited to play – not just the competition itself but a final. We’re ready for it.
“It doesn’t matter if we didn’t win [it] before or for a long time. It’s just about a trophy that we can win and we add in our backpack this new challenge. We’re looking forward to it.”
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