Liverpool star Fabinho has been praised as being “immense” against Ajax last night as he took on the important role of replacing the injured Virgil van Dijk in central defence.
Normally a defensive midfielder, Fabinho has occasionally dropped in at centre-back in the past, but he now faces playing there on a regular basis for much of the rest of this season.
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Still, former Liverpool ace Stephen Warnock was clearly impressed with Fabinho as he heaped praise on the Brazilian’s performance in defence as Jurgen Klopp’s side earned an important 1-0 away victory over Ajax in the Champions League last night.
“Fabinho was immense in everything he did,” Warnock told BBC 5 Live.
“He stepped onto the play and broke things up, he stepped in at the right times when he knew there was a danger, headed everything that came into the box.
“What I liked about it was he didn’t have the attitude of ‘I have to be Virgil van Dijk, where I pull things down and play out from the back.’
“If it needs to go it goes and he just dealt with situations comfortably and cleared his lines.”
Liverpool fans will surely share this view, with Fabinho not looking at all out of place as he filled in for Van Dijk and helped LFC to a win in this big game.
Time will only tell how the 26-year-old looks in that role when he’s asked to do it every week in the months ahead.