Which Spanish midfielder topped the rankings in the Champions League this week?
Juan Mata scored and set up the winner as Manchester United came from 1-0 down to Wolfsburg to triumph 2-1 on Wednesday evening, but it was his Spanish compatriot, Thiago, that finished gameweek 2 of the Champions League group stages with the highest WhoScored rating (9.96).
Thiago, 24, joined Bayern Munich from Barcelona in 2013 but has been cast in and out of the first-team due to persistent injury problems. While his vintage display against Dinamo Zagreb was startling, it was also a sorry reminder to what Bayern could have achieved had the Spanish creator been more readily available over the first two years of his Bavarian career.
The former Barcelona midfielder registered a hat-trick of assists in Bayern’s 5-0 win on Tuesday night, which equalled the total of assists he’d managed over the last three years in the Champions League combined. Thiago was a constant threat against an underwhelming Croatian outfit, completing at least two more key passes than any other player (6).
Thiago was the hub of all things creative for Bayern and it is not surprising to find out that only defender David Alaba (113) made more passes and had more touches of the ball (126) than Thiago (104 & 122, respectively). The Spaniard driving runs from deeper positions were often too much to handle for the visitors, with only Douglas Costa (4) completing more dribbles than him (3).
