Jurgen Klopp singled out Fabinho for praise in the Brazillian’s impressive centre-back showing for the Reds in their 1-0 victory over Ajax as Liverpool FC began their 2020-21 Champions League journey with a victory away from home.
The Liverpool FC boss was delighted with his player’s display, and in his post-game interview, the German coach hailed Fabinho’s impact as a centre-back, with Klopp admitting that the Brazillian actually liked the prospects of playing in that role, despite him being a traditional holding midfielder.
“This combination with Joey and Fabinho, I don’t think they played together before if I’m 100 per cent right. Maybe once but I don’t really know,” said Klopp.
“Fabinho can play the position, he likes playing it actually. If I would have asked him to play right-back I don’t think he would enjoy it as much as he’s enjoying the centre-half position. In our situation in the moment we have to keep those boys fit and then they can of course help us a lot. I’m not surprised he plays well in the position otherwise we would have thought about a different solution, even when that would have been properly tricky.
“I’m really pleased for tonight, pleased for him, yes it gave him confidence, for sure helped us. These situations [goal-line clearances], Millie [James Milner] had last season one against Bournemouth, which was a massive one. That tonight was a massive one. And so he had not only because of this a big hand in this victory.”
The 26-year old was drafted in the central defender role for the second time this season, with Virgil van Dijk’s long-term ACL injury, and Joel Matip’s late absence for the Ajax showdown, proving to be tough obstacles for Klopp to sail through ahead of a gruesome schedule of fixtures.
However, the ex-AS Monaco star was colossal in his performance for the Merseyside giants at the Johan Cruyff Arena, keeping the Ajax frontline at bay with his immaculate defensive awareness and pinpoint tackling.
His goal-line clearance of a lobbed effort by Dusan Tadic was a turning point in the game as it denied the hosts a chance to level the scoreline after Nicolas Tagliafico’s own goal in the 35th minute had handed Jurgen Klopp’s men an unlikely lead.
