Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand, has singled out midfielder Thiago Alcantara for praise after Liverpool’s Champions League 2-1 win over Ajax on Tuesday.

Ferdinand said Alcantara displayed his qualities for Liverpool against Ajax at Anfield.

Liverpool bounced back from their damaging defeat to Napoli last week by beating the Dutch champions thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Joel Matip.

At the heart of their performance was Alcantara, who operated brilliantly at the base of their midfield in defence and attack.

The Spain international won two tackles and seven duels against Ajax.

“He came on against Napoli and he was the only one who got any sort of positive words from the manager in terms of his intensity, stepping onto the game, onto opponents, and he took that into the game today.

The way Jurgen Klopp’s teams play at their best is when they are right up against people, when they are in people’s faces and when they win it in transition, playing the ball forward. He epitomised all of that today,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.