The World Cup in Qatar has claimed another huge scalp after former winners Spain were dumped out by Morocco on penalties.
With the Last 16 tie ending goalless after 90 minutes and extra time, it was left to spot-kicks to decide the match. And as things transpired, Luis Enrique's men were pretty useless under pressure from 12 yards, missing their first three attempts, which allowed the Madrid-born Achraf Hakimi to seal their fate with an audacious Panenka-style chip down the middle that put the North African side into their first-ever World Cup quarter-final.
The embarrassed Spaniards were left dumb-struck, but it didn't take long for the talk on social media to turn to the Liverpool player missing from Spain's squad.
READ MORE: Sofyan Amrabat could be perfect replacement for two Liverpool midfielders
READ MORE: Luis Diaz returns as double boost spotted in Liverpool training session
Reds midfielder Thiago has been in great form for Liverpool this season, but still couldn't make it into Enrique's squad for the trip to Qatar and is absence from the spot-kick decider came back to haunt him.
Brazilian Twitter account @OficialSala12 said: "No one chooses not to summon Thiago Alcântara and Sergio Ramos and goes unpunished."
The ECHO's Liverpool FC Writer, Theo Squires, was in no doubt as to how much of a glaring miss the Anfield star was for Spain as well. He Tweeted: "Thiago would have scored. Luis Enrique facing plenty more scrutiny regarding his Spain squad selection now, with the #LFC midfielder not the only questionable absentee."
@Nasirkidebe added: "This is the price you pay when you drop player of Thiago in National team.. Congratulations Morocco for making Africa proud #spain #LFC."
Thiago has 46 Spanish caps to his name, scoring twice, and also tasted European Championship success with Spain's U17s in 2008 and U21s in both 2011 and 2013 when he was named Golden Player.
One of European football's most decorated footballers, his elite pedigree and performances for Liverpool were not enough to convince Enrique to put the 31-year-old on the plane to Qatar and now he appears to be paying the price.
@RedbeardLFC Tweeted: "Thiago would [have] scored a penalty there. Unfortunately he wasn't taken to the world cup unluckieeeee."
@LFC2021 added: "In this game today, Spain needed the conductor Thiago against a deep sitting team. Why would you leave out such a ball player? Result=Spain are out!"
@MrOneNigeria saw more than a penalty spot contribution in his reasoning as to why Spain should have taken Thiago to Qatar. He said: "Think Spain missed Thiago Alcantara more than anyone tonight. When you start Gavi in a crucial match who does nothing other than fouling an opponent what do you expect? Spain needed someone who could break Morocco lines and he is also a threat outside the box. Kinda Crazy."
READ NEXT
