Thiago Alcantara admits he's desperate to play at Anfield in front of a full stadium of Liverpool fans.
The midfielder joined the Reds last summer from Bayern Munich and is yet to play in front of any fans in England due to the UK government's stadium lockouts. Thiago admits he's missing the supporters and believes the Kop could have made a difference for Liverpool this season.
Thiago regards himself as a football fan and says the lack of presence of supporters in the stadium is something he is missing badly. The Spain international conceding it's something he's never experienced - even from his junior days.
Currently with Luis Enrique's Spain squad, Thiago was asked about his experience with Liverpool and in England.
He told AS: "It is a change of country, club, stadium and you have the expectation not only of seeing the public in your stadium, which will be beautiful to see Anfield full, but also the experience of learning about this new country every day.
"For football fans like us, football loses much of its essence without people in the stands. We are competing in empty stadiums and we have had to relearn because since we were little we have played on fields not without people, with screaming parents. We knew how to do it and we were used to playing with people supporting us and even with people against us.
"Now we have gotten used to playing without the public, but we miss so much that there are people in the stadiums that there is a little yearning every day."
The midfielder insists the famous passion shown by Liverpool fans late in games is something that would have made a difference at key moments this season.
Thiago also said, "The extra of the public is missing in the final moments of the game, which gives you that little physical point. It is something psychological. As in the day to day being able to do little in the city with the family, and more in a new city. You go from home to training and from training to home and you enter a dynamic in which it is just that.
"Soccer is much more, you have to live day by day, the approach with the fans. I have my son who is a football fan at four years old and not being able to take him to the stadium is frustrating for me and for him. When you open everything, it will be much better for everyone."
- updated March 24
