Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised Reds midfielder Fabinho for his impressive performance against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Reds moved to pole position in Group C after registering a convincing 4-0 win over the Croatian champions at Anfield on Wednesday courtesy of a goals from Mohamed Salah (two), Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
Klopp decided to hand out a rare opportunity to Fabinho, who made only his second start of the season following his arrival in the summer, and the Brazilian made the most out of it.
The 25-year-old established himself in the middle of the park and grew in confidence as the game progressed.
Fabinho’s distribution, energy and strength in midfield ensured that Liverpool took full control of the game and Klopp was not shy of praising the summer recruit after the game.
The Liverpool manager admitted that the Brazilian performed well, but insisted that he should take inspiration from this performance and carry on in a similar fashion for the remainder of the season.
“Very good. Very, very good. The present for his birthday was not that he was in the line-up, it was that we played his favourite system with a double-six”, Klopp told a press conference when asked about Fabinho.
“He played really well and it was good to see.
"He was very aggressive and everything was there.
“For his first game for a while, his second [start] from the beginning, it was good, really good. It is quite impressive what people saw tonight.
“It always helps a player if you play a good game – it helped us tonight and helped him.
"That was the start, so let’s carry on.”
Fabinho has been restricted to just 212 minutes of playing time so far this season as he battles to justify the £40m price-tag that came with him from Monaco.
