Liverpool's Thiago pulled off the filthiest 'Elastico' in 2015 | OneFootball

Thiago Alcantara is a special footballer, there can be no denying it.

While it took him some time to settle in to his new surroundings at Anfield, the Liverpool star finally arrived in the most recent season, announcing himself with some mesmeric performances in the middle of the park.

His performance against Manchester United, in particular, was absolutely superb as he proved himself to be the master puppeteer Liverpool fans had been longing for.

They perhaps were beginning to wonder if they may ever see the true Thiago take to the pitch on Merseyside after a run of frustrating injuries saw any progress he could make miserably hampered.

He simply disappeared for weeks after sustaining a knee injury against Everton in the early days of his Anfield career with the club releasing little to no information about his progress.

Even with those mounting frustrations, Liverpool fans will have known they had a real player on their hands and it was only matter of time before his world class talent shone through.

You need only take but a brief glance at some of his Bayern Munich highlights to understand why the Anfield faithful were so willing to wait as long as they did for Thiago to find his feet.

YouTube is awash with his ridiculous passing compilations, many of which are just a gathering of some of the greatest pings you could ever hope to see.

Then, once you’ve ploughed many an hour down that rabbit hole, you can dig yourself out of it and fling yourself into a skill-themed trench.

If, however, you’re running low on time, why not just check out one of his filthiest bits of skill while in the colours of Bayern.

During a clash with Borussia Dortmund, Thiago tore a hole right through the defence with a sparkling ‘elastico’ to turn what could have been a dead end into the foundation for an attack.

Unreal. It’s actually scary how easy he makes it look.

Us mere mortals might have broken an ankle trying such a thing but Thiago pulled it off at incredible speed and didn’t even bat an eye-lid.

Now, he’ll be hoping to build on last season and help Liverpool go one further to pip Manchester City to the Premier League title.

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Manchester United vs Chelsea, 2008 UCL Final

Gary Neville Wes Brown John O'Shea

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