Thiago produced a stunning European strike at Anfield to announce his delayed arrival at the heart of the Liverpool team.
And afterwards, he revealed the “joy” that every players feels when pulling on the red shirt under Jurgen Klopp, as they return to the summit of the game after a year of injury misery.
The Spain international was one of the worst hit with injury woes over the past year after his move from Bayern Munich, but after his unbelievable goal helped deliver comfortable victory over Porto, he said: “I am really glad and happy for the goal.
"As a moment for me it is important because I am coming back from injury.,..trying to raise more confidence.
“Of course, the most important goal is when it’s important for the team. How the team played, how we defended, we're happy with the young guys and experienced guys.
“I think for each player here in this team, we have joy when we touch the ball, when we touch it in a nice pass or nice shot, and fortunately this was a goal. Maybe I have scored better though!”
Klopp praised his side for still battling to victory despite making four changes, “and completely changing the entire system”.
It gives them a record points total in the group stages of the Champions League, after winning all of their first five matches for the first time.
He said of the goal: “Whoever sees Thiago in training knows he has the technique to do it but he doesn't do it constantly. It was good timing. A great goal, a thunder ball.
“We could rest players and give rhythm to other players and bring players back after injury. A lot of good things happened tonight but I'm not sure we should make the mistake of saying we are this or that again.
“We know we have moments when we are not cool to play against, but we will know what we are at the end of the season. We are in a good moment and we should try everything to keep that going.”
