OPINION
At long last Fabinho showed Liverpool supporters why the club spent almost so much money on him this summer with a dominant display against Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday night.
The Reds produced an assured performance to dispatch the Serbian giants 4-0 in the Champions League, and it was their summer signing from Monaco who really impressed at Anfield.
The 25-year-old has had to be patient this season, as Jurgen Klopp has tended to prefer his tried-and-trusted midfield lieutenants of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum, but he took his chance when it came against Red Star.
Fabinho was brought in to be the midfield destroyer that Liverpool didn’t really have last campaign, and he showed he was up to the task as he bossed the middle of the park against Vladan Milojevic’s side.
The £43.7million [Sky Sports] player was everywhere, cleaning up the rare attack the visitors had, as well as showcasing his own passing ability moving forward.
That technical skill was probably something that Reds fans were unaware of, but Fabinho showed his quality on the ball against Red Star as he sprayed some lovely balls to his team mates moving forward.
He seems to glide through the midfield at times, winning possession back and then moving smoothly through the gears as he drives his team forward relentlessly.
He operated to an extremely high level alongside Wijnaldum and Xherdan Shaqiri in midfield, exchanging possession with the two more attack-minded players and allowing them to do what they do best moving forward.
Both Wijnaldum and Shaqiri were excellent and it’s encouraging for Klopp to have so many of his midfielders playing at the peak of their powers at the moment.
But it’s Fabinho’s emergence that will have caught the eye the most on Wednesday, and he had many Liverpool supporters wondering why Klopp hasn’t started the Brazilian more this term.
It certainly seems as if the former Monaco man is up to speed now and, if he can continue his current form, he’ll be a big asset for the team moving forward.
