Fabinho surprised Luis Diaz with Panenka penalty in Carabao Cup final

The Reds prevailed over Chelsea 11-10 on spot-kicks

Fabinho has revealed he surprised Liverpool teammate Luis Diaz with his Panenka penalty in the Carabao Cup final shootout win last weekend.

The Reds prevailed over Chelsea 11-10 on spot-kicks to win what could be the first of four trophies this season.

And the Brazilian midfielder has revealed that he practiced his attempt the day before.

“The day before, I tried to do a Panenka. It was just me and Luis Diaz, with no goalkeeper in the goal,” he said ahead of the Champions League last-16 second leg visit of Inter Milan.

“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. It worked.

“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.”

In addition to that Fabinho has recently added goals to his game, with his six this season more than double what he had managed in his three previous seasons.

Part of that is due to Klopp’s tactical switch at set-pieces and he realistically thinks he can get to 10 before the end of the campaign.

“I was always the last man to stop the counter-attack. Now the coach gave me more confidence and put me more in the box and I am scoring goals,” he added.

“It’s good for me and for the team as well. I didn’t think too much about targets but if I can score 10, it would be very good for a defensive midfielder.

“The team scores a lot of goals and when a team scores a lot of goals players like me and other defenders really have a chance to score as well.”

Fabinho’s return