Fabinho is set to miss Liverpool’s Champions League clash with RB Leipzig, having not trained on Monday, with The Athletic‘s James Pearce confirming the news on Twitter.
Naby Keita, Divock Origi and Ben Davies all part of #LFC training session at Kirkby as Jurgen Klopp watches on. No sign of Fabinho. No James Milner either. Klopp press conference to follow at 1.30pm.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) February 15, 2021
The Reds face the Bundesliga side in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday night, making the trip to Budapest.
The Premier League champions are in a poor run of form after three defeats in a row, with a response badly needed on their return to European action.
Judging by Pearce’s update, however, Fabinho seems unlikely to be available for selection, having missed the weekend defeat at Leicester City.
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Fabinho is arguably Liverpool’s Player of the Year currently, so he will clearly be a big loss against Leipzig.
Not only is he a world-class defensive midfielder, but he has also been magnificent at centre-back in the absence of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip this season.
The Brazilian being out means Jordan Henderson will likely have to partner Ozan Kabak again on Tuesday evening, which is a far-from-ideal situation.
Klopp does have the option of pushing Henderson into midfield and playing Ben Davies or Nathaniel Phillips, but that feels risky against top class opponents.
