Fabinho claims high-risk Panenka plan shows Liverpool’s renewed self-belief

Statistics can tell the tale of Liverpool’s recovery over the past 12 months – Jürgen Klopp’s team suffered a sixth successive home league defeat one year ago on Monday and host Internazionale on Tuesday aiming for a 13th straight win in all competitions – but Fabinho’s Panenka in the Carabao Cup final paints it better. There is no clearer expression of the confidence flowing through Liverpool than the high-risk plan the Brazilian hatched 24 hours before going eye-to-eye with Kepa Arrizabalaga at Wembley.

“The day before I tried to do a Panenka,” the midfielder recalls of his impudent penalty in Liverpool’s shootout success against Chelsea. “It was just me and Luis Díaz, with no goalkeeper in the goal. I told him: ‘Tomorrow if it goes to pens, I will shoot it like this.’ He didn’t believe me. But when I was walking to the box to take the penalty, it was in my mind to shoot a Panenka. When you shoot a penalty like this you know that, if you miss, when you come back to the dressing room everyone will kill you. But it was in my mind that I would take it like this and that I could do it.”

Fabinho’s self-belief stands in stark contrast to Liverpool’s confidence level of 12 months ago. Fulham left Anfield with what appeared a precious win in their attempt to avoid relegation, condemning Klopp’s side to the worst home run in Liverpool’s history in the process. It was Fulham’s last Premier League victory of a doomed campaign. It was also the last time Liverpool lost at Anfield.

“I remember this game,” Fabinho says. “The confidence of the team was really low, it wasn’t the only game we lost at home. The moment wasn’t good but we won the next game against Leipzig and we started to change it around. Since the start of this season