Jürgen Klopp finishes what Thiago started as Liverpool trio fixes Champions League final problem

Twice in the past five years, Liverpool has faced Real Madrid in the Champions League final, and twice it has come up against the same midfield — Casemiro, Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos.

It’s the greatest trio of the modern era, and one of the best of all time, for it has simply everything an elite-level manager could possibly need.

Between them, they provided ball-winning, control, creativity and energy, and that’s even before you get to the mental attributes like their unparalleled steel and intelligence.

In Kyiv in 2018, Liverpool countered with Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum, and then four years later in Paris, Fabinho and Thiago lined up alongside the skipper.

These were, of course, strong midfields — four of those players merit the label of Liverpool legend, and while Thiago hasn’t yet won the silverware at Anfield to earn that mantle, he’s an icon of the game in his own right.

“Let me say, this midfield Fabinho, Hendo, Gini and then Millie, these four for three positions, I think nobody would have said it would be a successful midfield because something is lacking — but nothing was lacking because the boys were all a real package,” Jürgen Klopp told the club’s official website recently as he reacted to Henderson’s exit, and he certainly has a point.

After all, this was the group that made amends for its Kyiv heartbreak by winning the Champions League in 2019, and then romped to a 99-point Premier League title just over 12 months later.

But the ultimate truth is that something was lacking. Technically, Liverpool wasn’t able to match the very best midfields. When it faced the likes of Real or Manchester City, its greatest domestic adversary, it had to try and nullify rather than dominate. Liverpool’s players could out-run and out-fight superior footballers in that department, but they very rarely out-classed them.

Now, though, that may be changing, with the help of new signing Alexis Mac Allister and academy graduates Curtis Jones and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Mac Allister and Jones command the ball better than most midfielders in the Premier League, with the former ranking 16th for passing accuracy last season (minimum 1,000 minutes played) and the latter soaring as high as third. What’s more, they both sit in the top 50 when it comes to fewest possession losses per 90 minutes, a departure from some of their more limited predecessors.

Alexander-Arnold’s passing accuracy last season was only 79 per cent, but that’s a reflection of his risk-taking rather than any technical deficiencies. When asked to keep the ball, as he will be more often in a hybrid midfield role, he can do so comfortably.

After watching his side dismantle Leicester in a 4-0 pre-season victory on Sunday, Klopp dubbed his Scouse duo ‘sensational footballers’.

Yes, this was a Championship opponent, but it was still a team that boasted several Premier League-caliber players and should realistically breeze to promotion under the former Manchester City assistant coach Enzo Maresca.

During the first half in particular, when the aforementioned trio were all on the pitch, Liverpool put together long spells of sustained possession that seemed to exhaust Leicester, with the Foxes unable to get close. Exerting complete control as they pried for an opening, the Reds closely resembled Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

This was largely down to the composure of Alexander-Arnold, Mac Allister and Jones, a trio that will play together fairly often this season, even if Dominik Szoboszlai is likely to be first-choice in one of the advanced number eight roles.

By unlocking Jones, recruiting Mac Allister, redeploying Alexander-Arnold and moving on from a more functional generation of midfielders, Liverpool has elevated the technical standard significantly.

Now, when it faces a team like Manchester City, it may be able to exert genuine control for prolonged spells in the middle of the park, rather than simply chasing and harrying.

That represents an exciting evolution, one that began with the signing of Bayern Munich maestro Thiago in 2020 and has finally been completed.