Kostas Tsimikas has expressed gratitude after starting as Liverpool captain in a competitive match for the first time. The club's 15 October report confirms that he wore the armband in the 6-3 Champions League victory at LASK and supplied two assists.
A specific Liverpool milestone
Virgil van Dijk began on the bench and entered midway through the second half. Tsimikas consequently carried the captaincy in Liverpool's starting arrangement.
The milestone concerns his competitive Liverpool career. It does not establish a first captaincy across every team or stage of his life.
He also created goals for Ronald Araújo and Jeremie Frimpong, with the assists coming either side of half-time. Those contributions gave him an attacking role in both periods as well as the personal significance of leading the team from the start.
A personal response after the victory
Writing on Instagram, Tsimikas described representing his dream club, captaining them on a Champions League night and contributing to a win as a special experience. He connected it with childhood ambitions and encouraged supporters to keep believing in their own goals.
The completed match provides the backdrop: Bradley Barcola scored a hat-trick, with Araújo, Frimpong and Lewis Koumas contributing the other goals in the accompanying accounts.
Liverpool next prepare to visit Brentford on 17 October. The new development is Tsimikas' captaincy milestone and public reaction, his first competitive captaincy for Liverpool. Wearing the armband in that starting lineup also does not constitute an announcement of a permanent captaincy change.