Thiago: Flick's tactics excellent and he's very personable—I'd use him as a role model if I coached

Thiago spoke with David Ornstein of The Athletic, reflecting on his injury-forced retirement, his collaborations with coaches like Guardiola, Klopp, and Flick, and his views on beautiful football and the development of young players. This is the second part of the exclusive interview.

Other parts of the exclusive interview

Thiago: My body can no longer support me playing, I am very satisfied with my career

Thiago: My last appearance for the Reds was not planned, I cried after straining my hamstring

Among the head coaches you've worked with, who is the best?

All the coaches I've worked with have been excellent. Pep is a genius, both tactically and in the way he conveys his ideas to players.

Jürgen's strength lies in how he manages a team and how he gets them to play with such intensity.

Luis Enrique is somewhat a combination of the two. But for me, a coach also needs to be humane. I had one of my best times working with Flick at Bayern, which was during my last eight months there.

He was excellent tactically and very good at managing the team, but at the same time, he had a very close and humane relationship with the players. If I want to become a coach or part of a coaching staff in the future, I will use him as a reference.

Do you remember when Pep went to Bayern Munich?

Yes, I do.

He said you were the player he absolutely had to bring, the player he had to sign. That must have felt great.

Yes, of course. 99% of the reason I moved was because of him. Afterward, you realize it's a club with a long history. You already knew what Bayern was like in Europe, but only when you actually came to Germany did you see how big its influence is in the country. That influence is enormous.

However, I did move there because of him. Because I originally wanted to continue playing in LaLiga or go to the Premier League. But suddenly, the best coach you've ever seen tells you: "Come, join me at this club I've just taken over."

Looking back at your career now, do you have any regrets? There must be some things you feel you could have done differently, or you might think: "I wish it hadn't been that way."

No, because those experiences made me who I am today. I like the path my life has taken, I like those experiences, and I accept the mistakes I've made. These experiences and mistakes allow me to give useful advice to others now.

What mistakes have you made?

For example, the way I prepared for games, the way I dealt with games, and lack of sleep. Sleep is one of my biggest regrets. I didn't sleep well, and that also contributed to my injuries.

Also, after returning home, I should have distanced myself from football a bit. These are things I learned later, but they're just part of your personality. If you can improve these things and make life easier for yourself, then do it.

Why couldn't you sleep well?

I think it's related to my personality. I'm always very invested, always thinking: "Okay, get everything ready, tomorrow is coming."

Then you think: "I like being awake. A new day is coming, when will it arrive?" I think I've been like that since I was a child.

You told me your children don't sleep very well either. I guess they take after their father.

Yes, it's starting to show.

Then you can only blame yourself, because you love life, you look forward to a new day, and you want to do more things.

Yes. When night falls, I don't like it. I'm always eager for the next day to come.

If you hadn't played football, what kind of person would you be, or what job would you do?

I think I would be doing something related to sports or teaching. I like these things, I really do, because you can impact other people's lives. I like to learn, and if someone is willing, I also like to pass on what I've learned to them. So, I think if it weren't for football, I would definitely be doing something related to sports.

If you were to face your younger self, that six- or eight-year-old boy, what would you say to him? Your upbringing was different from many others. You were born in Italy, which many people don't know, because your father was playing football there at the time. Then where did you go—Spain?

Brazil, and then Spain.

Now you've reached the later stage of this journey. If you were facing a growing boy or girl, what would you say to them?

I think they should enjoy not just the process of growing up, but life as a whole. Because sometimes we get ourselves trapped in a very demanding or very specific personal task, like improving our performance on the football field.

In Spain, we see eight- and nine-year-olds who not only train with their teams but also have individual training to get better and join better teams. But I think this is a learning process, and you should enjoy it. You need to enjoy not just football, but other sports and other things in life.

Are you worried about children growing up in this era? You are also a father of three.

Well, I've always dealt with these issues—electronic devices, social media, various distractions.

As parents, we certainly worry. We also think about what kind of impact this new lifestyle will have on children and how they will adapt.

But we are also constantly learning. You know, every day, every month, every year is a learning process. I just try to pass on what I learned from my father and my parents to my children, and my wife does the same. So we approach these things in a relatively relaxed way.

It's truly incredible to think your father was part of that era too. You just picked those three Barcelona midfielders as your best combination, but your father was also part of that celebration with those three Brazilian players back then.

My father has always been my idol. He played midfield and participated in two World Cups, one as a full-back and the other as a midfielder. Who else can do that?

He was very talented. His passing and his understanding of the game were incredible. But first and foremost, I had a professional footballer at home. I could see what a professional footballer was like on a daily basis—how he ate, how he slept, and what he was like as a father. So my father is my idol.

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