Thiago Alcantara’s admission that he loves to bring ‘beauty’ to football will be warmly received by fans who have been waiting to see the true form of the Liverpool midfielder.

The Spain international has endured a difficult 14 months at Anfield, with Covid suffering a knee injury last season and a calf problem this campaign, meaning he was unavailable for 138 days and missed 31 of the club’s 70 games since his arrival from Bayern Munich.

Therefore, the time taken to recover from those absences had an impact on the 30-year-old’s ability to achieve his best performance, but in recent weeks he has been on an upward curve and his lavish goal in the victory. 2-0 in the Champions League against Porto illustrated the quality he has.

What Thiago needs now is a long and uninterrupted run to the side to allow him to meet fans’ expectations following his £ 20million transfer.

“I’m really happy that action is the beauty I love to bring to football. I’m happy about that,” the midfielder said of his goal. “I try to do my best for the team, I want to play for them and be available for the team in all phases of football.

“At the end of the day, it’s about rhythm and having games in a streak and developing the physique to play with the team.

“Of course the goal is a detail of the game – also Mo (Salah’s) was an incredible goal – but it was better to win the game, get the three points and see that the team has still hungry even though we had already qualified for the next stage.

“It’s the best feeling that we’re still in this mood. Games are special against big teams and the little details make all the difference.

“Some details we had during the game were the two goals and we were more effective than them in the last quarter of the pitch.”

While those at Anfield got to see Thiago’s world-class talents up close, they also witnessed the emergence of the next product in the academy’s production chain.

19-year-old Tyler Morton made his Champions League debut just four days after his first Premier League appearance for the club he joined at the age of seven.

He put in a solid and composed performance and he has already impressed his more experienced and decorated teammate.

“You know he has that inner talent that makes him different with his age,” added Thiago. “He has a long way, everyone knows that it is very difficult to get to this level of football but the road will be easier for him because of his talent and also his intelligence – not only during the game, but looking at him.

“He’s going to have an incredible future here, I think, at this club. “

Morton lined up in central midfield with Thiago and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on either side of him and was grateful for their support.

“Both were good to me, to be honest. I can’t say more about them, ”he told liverpoolfc.com. “It’s not easy to have a 19 year old boy who comes to play with them, especially behind them, and who trusts him.

“I felt I had a lot of confidence from them and I was really happy with it. The way they talk to me improves me every day and yes I’m really happy.