‘After losing the first leg of the 2018/19 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, Klopp told me and Sadio Mane we’d turn it around. We believed him’ Fabinho on a legendary Anfield European night

When it comes to dramatic European comebacks, few can better Liverpool's second-leg dismantling of Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League semi-final.

Jurgen Klopp's side were left licking their wounds after a 3-0 first-leg defeat in the Camp Nou, only to turn the tables and pull off a miraculous 4-0 win at Anfield to book their places in the final.

For former Reds midfielder Fabinho, the match remains one of his favourite memories in a Liverpool shirt.

Fabinho on Liverpool's incredible Barcelona comeback

The Brazilian insists the belief that they could pull off an incredible comeback and stun Lionel Messi and company started long before the second leg kicked off.

"After losing the first leg of the 2018-19 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, Klopp came to talk to me and Sadio Mané in the dressing room," Fabinho recalls to FourFourTwo.

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"The other players had already left, Mané and I were the last ones there. Klopp was very calm, he looked at us and said he was confident we’d turn it around in the second leg.

"Seriously. Imagine, you’ve just lost 3-0 to a team like Barça, and he says that? But it wasn’t crazy, because we played well at Camp Nou, the score didn’t reflect what happened on the pitch.

"It’s strange to say this, but I think we played even better than Barça. They were lethal – they had four or five chances and scored three. Then and there in the dressing room, Mané and I said we also believed in the comeback. We knew we could beat them, especially at home.

"From that moment, we created an atmosphere and confidence to play the game we played at Anfield."

This mood continued right up until kick-off at Anfield.

"The feeling that whole day was one of great confidence, even though we were playing without Mo Salah and Firmino," he continues.

"Everything increased that confidence as the start of the game approached – entering the stadium, being there and connected with our fans. That was one of the most special games in relation to the fans as well.

"I remember my family saying afterwards that they couldn’t sit down for a minute during the game – they had to stand the full 90 minutes because everyone was on fire."