Speaking to us pitchside afterwards, Thomas reflected: “First and foremost, I think the response from the players to a bad performance was fantastic. I think in life and football you get hits and you get setbacks and it's how you react to that.
“That bounce-back mentality from the players, I love that. We talked about it the last two days. They've been really determined to turn things around and show how much more they can. A couple of things - I think the structure was good today in the offensive play, in the phase two – 3-2-5 or 3-1-6, whatever we call it, a little bit of tactical talk there - but also the ability to play forward and to turn forward I think was good.
“This was a good step forward, I'm very happy with that, especially on the offensive play. I think it was a bit more from Wilson, a bit more from Xavi , a bit more for Kolo, a bit more for Brennan, if you take the front four. The relationship gelled a little bit better and there's even more to come. That was positive. I think the way the players stepped up after the red card, wow, that was very, very impressive.
“Before the game, if you said to me, 4-0, I'd say, ah! I've always believed we can do that, of course, but it's a good team. It's a much better team. They will not lose 4-0, I think, in other games in the Champions League. We had two tough away games where not everything was perfect, but we are getting there, you know, step by step, and I think that's important.”