Guardiola lauds ´fearless´ Thiago

Pep Guardiola heaped praise on Thiago Alcantara after the Bayern Munich midfielder completed his first 90 minutes since July.

The 22-year-old played the full game as Bayern extended their unbeaten Bundesliga run to 39 matches with a routine 2-0 home win over Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday.

Thiago joined the German and European champions from Barcelona in the close-season, but completed 90 minutes just once – in the 4-2 DFL-Supercup defeat to Borussia Dortmund – before sustaining a knee injury against Nuremberg on August 24.

He made his comeback after three months out as a substitute in the 3-0 league victory at Dortmund last week, before then playing an hour in Bayern’s 3-1 UEFA Champions League win over CSKA Moscow on Wednesday.

Guardiola then gave the Spain international a full match against Braunschweig, and the ex-Barca coach was pleased with his “courageous” compatriot’s display.

“We have a lot of injured players and Thiago wasn’t fit enough to play a full 90-minute game before,” he said.

“He is a courageous player but still needs time to get back to full fitness.

“I’m happy about his performance, he is a player that doesn’t know the word fear. He is very brave – I am satisfied, to come back like this after a three-month absence.

“That shows very strong character and it’s a great effort from him, I’m happy with his performance.”