Liverpool look exposed without Fabinho amid fears history will repeat itself

Perhaps a tale can be told in three Champions League finals. Two days after the first, in 2018, Liverpool announced they were signing Fabinho. His debut year at Anfield concluded in victory in the second, in 2019. Now the risk is he will miss their third in swift succession. He is the player Pep Lijnders has called Liverpool’s “lighthouse” but a hamstring injury cast a dark pall over a night when they drew level on points with Manchester City.

“He is quite positive but I am not quite sure what I can make of that,” said Jurgen Klopp, his innate optimism colliding with the realities of how long it takes the body to heal. Maybe, in a cruel way, the story came full circle. Fabinho pulled up while in rather more distant pursuit of for former Red Philippe Coutinho than he would otherwise have been. The £142m windfall Liverpool received for Coutinho – some £125m more than Barcelona will get when his move to Aston Villa becomes permanent – is widely remembered for financing the deals for Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. But the wheels were already in motion for the transfer of the Dutchman. It may be more accurate to say that Coutinho paid for Fabinho, giving Liverpool some £100m to invest elsewhere while allowing Klopp to reshape a midfield with more steel and less silk.

They are opposites, constructive and destructive presences, the flair player and the foundation of much of Liverpool’s success. Coutinho was the Pete Best of Klopp’s Liverpool, leaving just before a group from Merseyside became successful. He won nothing at Anfield. Fabinho has won virtually everything, missing only the FA Cup. He could have the medal on Saturday, but probably not the memories of playing at Wembley. The broader concern will be that he may miss out