The Paris Saint-Germain captain looks back on the start to the season and ahead to Saturday's Ligue 1 encounter with Toulouse (kick-off 17:00CET).
Thiago, the team has won its first 13 league games of the season…
"It's impressive. I've been at the club six years and it's the first time we've managed to do that; For us, it's incredible. A lot of players came back late for pre-season after the World Cup. The 'Titis' of Paris Saint-Germain, Nkunku, Diaby and the others trained with us, and they too contributed to the wins. They did some good work. We now have to keep going, starting with Saturday's match against Toulouse, at home, in front of our fans. It'll be tough, it always is after an international break. We have to focus on that game to prepare well for Wednesday's."
What do you do to not think about the match with Liverpool?
"We hope to get a 14th successive Ligue 1 win. We're working for that. We respect all the teams we play. We're strong at home, thanks to our fans. To prepare for Wednesday's game, we have to play well on Saturday to gain even more confidence."
You have gotten to know a new coach since the start of the season…
"It's easy to work with him! He speaks a lot, is down-to-Earth, often laughs with us, is serious in his work. He talks to us a lot to improve things on a daily basis, in each training session, in each game. For me, it's magnificent. For example, if I haven't played well, I go home and ask myself why I didn't do things well. I try to find the mistakes. He's the same. As the team's captain, it's easy to work with him."
His hazing after the Trophée des Champions was a major step…
"It was incredible, because he'd been here barely a month. Normally, you do that with people you know well. He's very close to the players and jokes around with us, but works when you have to work. He hadn't sung, and he said to us before the match that he would do it in the dressing-room if we won. We decided to change it a little and he had to do it during his press conference. For us, it was magnificent. Up to now, the work we've done has been very good. We now have to keep going, go forward, because we still have a lot of things to do this year."