Both Brian Kerr and Richard Dunne were brimming with praise for Liverpool's Thiago as the Reds put themselves in the driving seat with a 2-0 win over Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final first leg.
Jurgen Klopp's men were favourites going into the game however they knew the stubborn outfit they were facing in Unai Emery's Villarreal; the Yellow Submarine overcame Bayern Munich in the quarter-final with two ultra-defensive displays earning them a 2-1 aggregate win.
And it looked as though the visitors might have been heading towards another heroic shutout at Anfield as a frustrated Liverpool side failed to break them down in the first half.
However, the pressure eventually told in the 53rd minute when a Jordan Henderson cross was deflected and looped across the line courtesy of the unfortunate touch from Pervis Estupiñán.
Liverpool put their foot down from then on and just two minutes later, Sadio Mané made it 2-0 as his toe-poke finished off a zippy Liverpool attack which looked more like the barnstorming Liverpool of the last couple of months; quick-thinking, fast-acting and clinical.
The 2-0 result means Klopp's men have taken another tentative step in their pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple.
And in the Virgin Media studio, Brian Kerr and Richard Dunne pointed to the imperious form of midfielder Thiago as the root cause of Liverpool's elegance and dominance on the pitch.
The Spaniard has had pass accuracy of 96%, 98% and 96% in his last three games in a red shirt.
And former Ireland boss Kerr was generous in his praise for the midfield maestro.
He said: "Over recent weeks he's been sensational.
"Over the last five years, each year the number of passes per game they've had has increased.
"We knew them at the start as a bit of a rapid-fire, counter-attacking, high pressing team. Now they've developed into an all-round team that like to control possession.
"They do the gegenpressing and the fast counter attack but they do this [control possession] and he controls the tempo of it. He glides around, always in cotrol, slows it up.
"He has the ability to find space, and knows where he wants to play it even before he receives it."
As well as his passing masterclass, Thiago came very close to breaking the deadlock with a rasping effort from range which clipped the top of the crossbar.
Kerr continued: "There's accuracy in the pass and variation in the pass.
"He is just so composed in possession and also very good at passing the ball forward.
"They used to say it about Liverpool's midfield three before he came that they hadn't got creativity and it was all about energy.
"He's just a brilliant midfielder and he brings a better balance to it with Henderson and Fabinho."
Former Republic of Ireland centre-half Dunne was in agreement with Kerr and described the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona man's weight of pass as 'perfect.'
He said: "If you're playing against a compact side, you need to switch the ball from right to left, get them moving and try to create those gaps.
"There's Henderson, Fabinho and Keita, and you'd rather him [Thiago] on the ball, he's the man that can find those gaps.
"His weight of passing is perfect."
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