Fabinho has said it would be even more special for Liverpool if they win the Carabao Cup against Chelsea on Sunday because they were denied the chance to celebrate with their supporters when they became Premier League champions.
The Brazilian was part of the team which ended Liverpool’s 30-year wait for a 19th league title in 2020 but, with fans banned from grounds because of coronavirus restrictions, Jordan Henderson lifted the trophy in an empty Anfield.
While they won the Champions League in 2019 and then the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup the following season, all were abroad and in front of fewer supporters so Sunday’s game offers the chance for more fans to see them secure silverware.
Liverpool have been allocated 32,999 tickets and Fabinho insists the presence of a crowd gives him extra motivation. “When we won the Premier League it was in Covid times so we couldn’t celebrate in the right way with our fans, so to have them in the stadium will be special,” the midfielder said.
“It will be 50-50 between the supporters, hopefully the red part will be really beautiful. We know our fans will be behind us. Everything would make this final special: we play at Wembley and our fans are behind us. It will be really nice to win this title. It would be my first national cup with Liverpool.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold has said that Liverpool should aim to lift at least one honour every year and Henderson said: “It will be another big moment for us as a team to win a trophy this season. Hopefully at the end of the day we can celebrate with our fans.”
The Liverpool captain, the one survivor of their last League Cup-winning team a decade ago, believes they can use victory on Sunday as the springboard to further success in their pursuit of a historic quadruple.
Henderson feels they are picking up a head of steam as they improve and feels securing the season’s first silverware would increase their morale for their challenge on three other fronts.
Liverpool have won their past nine games in all competitions to revive their Premier League title hopes, reached the FA Cup fifth round and take a 2-0 lead from the opening away leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Internazionale.
Henderson said: “As this season has gone on, we have got stronger and stronger and as we are getting to the business end, I hope we can continue, starting with a huge game for us. If we do that, then we will have a good chance of winning and if you win trophies this early in the season, it can give you a big boost.”
This competition has often been a catalyst for clubs to earn more honours. In Pep Guardiola’s reign, Manchester City have won the Carabao Cup and then the Premier League three times in the same campaign, while in each of his spells at Chelsea, José Mourinho did the double of the Carling Cup, as it then was, and the title.
When Liverpool won four consecutive League Cups in the 1980s, they either went on to claim the old Division One, the European Cup or both on each occasion. However, Henderson is aware that Chelsea are following in Liverpool’s footsteps by using Champions League glory as a platform to further honours.
“Chelsea have won a few trophies over the past year so they are in a very good moment,” he said. “We know ourselves when you win one trophy, you keep going and keep going and you have got momentum and pick up one or two more. They seem to have done that after the Champions League but it is our job to stop that and make sure we are the ones going home with the trophy.”
Liverpool went seven years without silverware after their 2012 League Cup triumph against Cardiff on penalties. The 2019 Champions League was the first of four prizes but Henderson said he retains his hunger to claim more. “You should be challenging for trophies year in, year out: that’s the expectancy at Liverpool Football Club, that doesn’t change.
“We’ve won one or two things over the past few years but you always want more, you always want the next one, you always want to improve as a team.
“I feel as though we have done that but you’ve got to get over the line in finals and you’ve got to win big trophies and have big moments. Hopefully, there’s another big moment for us.”
