ReactionThiago Alcantara: AC Milan win was made on the training ground

The No.6 scored the Reds’ second goal of the evening in Friday’s friendly at Al-Maktoum Stadium with a fabulous low drive from 20 yards.

Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez (two) were also on the scoresheet as Jürgen Klopp’s squad rounded off their mid-season training camp with a win.

“In the end we are talking about a friendly game, preparation for the season, [and] we know that we start very early, on the 22nd,” Thiago told Liverpoolfc.com post-match.

“But yeah, we are really pleased with the game that we have done, also because it’s very similar as we have trained, so we are very happy with it.”

Read the rest of our interview with Thiago below.

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On trying to help the younger players in the group as well as focusing on his own game…

Fortunately the Academy is doing great. We have not just young, talented players but also intelligent players there. They get very quickly how we play, how we train, how we press, so I think we have great talents coming through and they will do, 100 per cent, great in the future.

On taking pleasure from the youngsters’ performances…

Yeah, in the end it’s great to have them here because they learn things with the guys, they also put their skills on the pitch but also we love to train and play with the young kids because we can see how they can progress and how they do it as well.

On what he wants the Reds to improve on in the second half of the season…

I think everything. As a football player, as now a Liverpool player and as a Liverpool fan, I think we have to improve everything. So, we have to achieve all trophies possible, we have start again the chase for first position – we know it’s tough – but we have other competitions as well so we are trying to chase everything.

On the importance of hitting the ground running when the season resumes…

For sure and that is why we are doing this pre-season, that is why we are working hard, to try on the 22nd to be as ready as we can.

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