{"id":597684,"date":"2026-04-11T19:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T19:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597684\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T19:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T19:57:13","slug":"brentford-boss-keith-andrews-hails-very-special-igor-thiago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597684\/","title":{"rendered":"Brentford boss Keith Andrews hails \u2018very special\u2019 Igor Thiago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brentford boss Keith Andrews hailed Igor Thiago as a \u201cvery special player\u201d after he backed up his Brazil debut with a record-breaking brace in a 2-2 draw with fellow European hopefuls Everton.<\/p>\n

Striker Thiago became the Bees\u2019 all-time leading scorer in a single Premier League season by taking his tally to 21 with an early penalty and a fortuitous 77th-minute finish.<\/p>\n

Brentford were ultimately frustrated as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall levelled in added time at the Gtech Community Stadium after Beto headed Everton\u2019s initial equaliser.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thiago joined the Bees in a club-record \u00a330million deal from Belgian side Club Brugge in 2024 but missed most of last term due to injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing for Thiago this season was staying fit and playing as many minutes as he has,\u201d said Andrews. \u201cWe always knew he had brilliant attributes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goals get all the attention but his overall performance levels continue to get better and better and he\u2019s constantly evolving his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s proving to be a very, very special player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thiago converted from the spot in the third minute following Jordan Pickford\u2019s foul on Kevin Schade to move alongside Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo as Brentford players to have scored 20 goals in a Premier League campaign.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 24-year-old, who registered a hat-trick in his side\u2019s 4-2 win at Everton in January, then claimed a small piece of history by deflecting home Michael Kayode\u2019s shot.<\/p>\n

Thiago won his first Brazil cap in a 2-1 friendly defeat to France on March 26 before scoring a penalty in a 3-1 win over Croatia on April 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in a pretty good place before he left (for international duty),\u201d said Andrews. \u201cHe\u2019s grown as the season has gone on, naturally with the journey he\u2019s been on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream of playing for your country, quite an iconic jersey to wear, was special for all of us and I think he is on cloud nine, there\u2019s no doubt about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully that can continue for the rest of the season and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two sides remain firmly in the mix for continental qualification but each missed the chance to pile pressure on Liverpool and Chelsea in the battle to secure Champions League football through a top-five finish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Brentford stay seventh after edging on to 47 points following a fourth consecutive league draw, with eighth-placed Everton below on goal difference ahead of next weekend\u2019s Merseyside derby.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the late leveller, Andrews said: \u201cUnfortunately we couldn\u2019t quite manage those last few moments to see out what I feel would have been a well-deserved win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dewsbury-Hall\u2019s crucial strike was his seventh Everton goal since joining from Chelsea.<\/p>\n

Toffees boss David Moyes said: \u201cKiernan has been so good for us. From last season there are not many changes but Kiernan has come in and helped us greatly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis goals have been hugely important. When I was signing him, when I was speaking with him, he did say, \u2018I\u2019ll score goals if I\u2019m played in the right way\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s scored goals, he\u2019s contributed to the performances, so we\u2019ve been really impressed with Kiernan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased to get a draw out of the game because it looked as if it wasn\u2019t going to be the case. It\u2019s a tough place to come, taking a point from here is not the worst result.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brentford boss Keith Andrews hailed Igor Thiago as a \u201cvery special player\u201d after he backed up his Brazil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-597684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}