Many football fans feared for Liverpool when they lost two of the Premier League's best centre-backs earlier this season.Virgil van Dijk was ruled out for the majority of the 2020/21 campaign when he suffered a cruciate knee injury against Everton in October.Just a few weeks later, Joe Gomez suffered a similar injury in England training.And, to make matters even worse, Joel Matip has also been plagued with injuries over the past few months.That means that Jurgen Klopp has had to resort to desperate measures to cope with the injury crisis.
But, despite the injury crisis at the back, Liverpool's defence has been solid.And one of the major reasons for their strong defence in recent times has been Fabinho.The Brazilian is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world but he has been forced to play at the back in recent months.He was deployed as a centre-back once again for Liverpool's crucial Premier League clash against Manchester United on Sunday evening.And he was arguably the best player on the park as he helped his side to a clean sheet.
And one moment of his from the game summed up his superb performance.Fabinho found himself defending a 2 vs 1 situation against Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani late on in the second half.But the Brazilian didn't panic at all.He didn't dive in as he challenged Rashford to run at him.The Englishman took up that opportunity but Fabinho was up to the task as he easily won the ball back.Watch the moment below:
It was a crucial moment in the match and one that saved Liverpool a point.
You can argue that Rashford should have handled the situation better but Fabinho made it very difficult for him.
Many Liverpool fans have been reacting to Fabinho's defending and they have been full of praise for the former Monaco man.
View some of the reaction below:
Even a Chelsea fan weighed in, calling Fabinho one of the league's most underrated players.
He really has stood up and been counted in the past few months.
Many Liverpool fans thought that they would need to buy a defender with Gomez and Van Dijk out for the majority of the season.
But Fabinho, valued at £54m by Transferamarkt, is proving that they may not have to.