‘I already knew the fanbase was huge, but seeing all the people on the streets, you get an even greater sense of how many there are’ Fabinho on Liverpool’s 2019 Champions League success

Fabinho’s first season at Liverpool delivered both ecstasy and heartbreak in equal measure.

The rollercoaster 2018/19 campaign saw the club get their hands back on the European Cup, but only after they had come up just short in their quest to end a near-three-decade wait for the league title.

Fabinho, who had arrived from Monaco in a £39million deal in the summer of 2018, has reflected on the climax to an action-packed first campaign in English football which saw the club win the Champions League shortly after Manchester City pipped them to the Premier League title by a single point.

Fabinho on his debut Liverpool season

“It was painful, but as we still had the Champions League final to play, it was less painful, because we still had the chance for a historic season,” the Brazilian recalls to FourFourTwo. “It was bad to lose the Premier League that way of course, especially when you think that we got 97 points!

“But we started to focus on the Champions League final straight away and ended up not giving so much importance to that failure, because we won the Champions League right after.”

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The Champions League final was an all-English affair that saw the Reds see off Tottenham 2-0 at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, a match that has a special place in Fabinho’s heart.

“One of the most special games I got to experience in the Liverpool shirt,” he says. “The club hadn’t won a title for many years, so the pressure was high. In my case, it was my first season, so I didn’t feel that pressure as much, it was more a desire to win my first Champions League.

“We scored in the first few minutes, then the impression on the pitch was that we just wanted to close it out and get the game over with.

“It wasn’t beautiful, there were few chances, but because of Liverpool’s drought – the last Champions League title had been in 2005 – we didn’t care much about how we played, we just wanted to win. When Origi scored the second, it was almost like a relief.

“We had a feeling of, ‘Now we’re going to close it out and no-one’s going to get past us.’ I had a lot of friends and family there – winning in front of them was very special.”

Next came the celebrations, handing Fabinho another fond memory.

“The celebrations at the stadium were great, but my best memories are from the parade around the city when we got back to Liverpool,” he adds. “It was the first time I’d done that, and it was one of the most impressive things I’ve experienced.

“I already knew the fanbase was huge, but seeing all the people on the streets, you get an even greater sense of how many fans there are and just how much they love the club.”