Liverpool were five goals to the good and one of their players was urging them forward, calling for more, looking for the sort of scoreline that could really humiliate a beleaguered Manchester United side who were already down to 10 men. It was, admittedly, hard for them to heed, or indeed hear, his instructions because Fabinho was not barking them from his usual position at the base of the midfield. Perhaps United should be relieved that he was injured, sat at home, shouting at the television.
“I wanted the team to attack more to try and score more goals because we had one more player,” Fabinho said. “But it was the moment where the team tried to control more of the game and to stabilise the ball. As a fan, I wanted the team to score more because it was a big opportunity to do a historic score at Old Trafford, but of course 5-0 was not bad.” Not bad, in his verdict, was still historic, Liverpool’s largest ever winning margin at United’s home.
But Fabinho, who can be a pragmatist on the pitch, felt more adventurous from his vantage point on the sofa. “Sometimes we are in a more fun side than a player side but you are often on the pitch so you try to understand a little bit both sides,” he reflected.
And Fabinho was quick to understand what Manchester United against Liverpool means. “It is the biggest game in England,” said the Brazilian. It became a mismatch last season when Jurgen Klopp’s side scored nine unanswered goals against United, giving them their biggest aggregate score in a rivalry that dates back to 1895. Factor in a 4-2 win in May 2021 and they have 13 goals in their last three meetings. Fabinho may have missed the 5-0 but he feels a talisman. He has never lost a league match to United. A 3-1 win in December 2018 was a breakthrough display for him after a slow start at Anfield.
“I remember my first game against them,” he recalled. “I was playing good but if you play good against them it gives you a different dimension; the fans will see you with different eyes.” Now the United supporters see their side bottom of the table after being thrashed 4-0 by Brentford. Liverpool hastened Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s demise and could make Erik ten Hag’s start worse. “I don’t care if a win pushes them a little bit more into crisis,” said an unsympathetic Fabinho.
And yet, as he was quick to point out, United’s travails benefit Liverpool. Whereas Fabinho joined a club who had finished behind bitter foes, some 34 points separated them last season. “Man United is a really big team and has big money to invest as well, so when a thing like this is not successful, I think it is good for us because it is one less team that will fight for titles,” Fabinho said. “If this happens with City as well I would be happy.”
His only regret is that a scapegoat is a compatriot and colleague in the Brazil team. “The Man United thing has not been successful in the last seasons, so you try to put the fault on some of the players and sometimes I think Fred is that player,” he said, mounting a case for the defence. “Last season he played really good football, maybe he was one of the best Man United players. This season, I hope Fred will play good and Man United will stay playing like this.”
If Fred’s place is under threat, it could be from another of the glut of Brazilian defensive midfielders, with Casemiro closing in on a £60m move from Real Madrid. United have a decidedly mixed record in the transfer market of late but they are getting the seal of approval from one with specialist knowledge of the position. “He will be a good signing,” Fabinho said. “Casemiro is a smart guy. He is a good player, he is strong, he is good in the air, so if he comes to the Premier League it will not be hard for him to adapt.”
There may be an irony. Casemiro’s transfer could be part of a midfield merry-go-round that could have affected Fabinho. Aurelien Tchouameni may be displacing a Brazilian at the Bernabeu; there were suggestions he might have done at Anfield instead, with the Frenchman thought to have been on Liverpool’s radar before he joined Real.
Fabinho shrugged it off. “I am really happy here so if Liverpool buy another No 6 that is normal and I will fight for the team and for the position,” he said. “It is normal that good players are always linked with the club. I didn’t hear about Tchouameni. I heard about [Jude] Bellingham because he is young and a really good player.” For now, however, Fabinho was not being immodest in talking about his own significance. “I consider myself an important player for the team,” he said.
It is a side that came agonisingly close to a quadruple last season. The Champions League final defeat “hurt”, he said. He thought Liverpool were better than Real. Now, he says, he does not think about it. The supporters helped in the healing process. “We knew we had to do the parade with the fans and most of the players didn’t want to because there was not the right mood, but the parade helped me personally a lot because we forgot about everything. We were just in the moment with the fans,” he explained.
“Sometimes we have to have this kind of experience to remind ourselves what this club means for the people, means for the fans.” And, when they were 5-0 up at Old Trafford last October and Fabinho wanted them to get a sixth or seventh goal, he turned fan himself.
