Fabio Carvalho has explained that making his Champions League debut was a dream come true and believes the 7-1 thrashing of Rangers was exactly what Liverpool ‘needed’.
The 20-year-old, who was signed from Fulham this summer, played the full 90 minutes at Ibrox and looked lively all evening as the Reds bounced back from Sunday’s disappointing defeat to Arsenal.
Our No. 28 spoke to Liverpoolfc.com after the game and admitted that he needed a good performance under his belt to boost his confidence.
“Yeah, Champions League is what everyone dreams of as a little kid to play in and today I made my debut and played the whole game,” Carvalho said. “It was a dream come true.
“It was a good night. We needed it as a team and for me personally as well I needed that for my confidence. We got the three points and what a way to get the three points.”
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Although we went 1-0 down in Glasgow, we showed great character to bounce back and respond with seven impressive goals.
Mo Salah’s five minutes hat-trick from the bench comes at a great time as we prepare for the visit of Manchester City at the weekend.
Pep Guardiola’s side are already 13 points ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League table, albeit having played a game more than the Reds, but Carvalho highlighted that the thrashing of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side means the Merseysiders head into their clash with City in high spirits.
“We needed that,” he added. “Going into Sunday is a big game and we need to focus on that. The result went our way today and what a way to get the win, but our focus is on Sunday now and we can’t be dwelling on this game. Obviously, we know what we [have] done well and we know what we can improve on, and the result today will give us confidence for Sunday.
“We have big players who perform on the highest stages. It’s a big game so we have the big players for it. It’s a big game, a big occasion, and I’m sure if we give it our all and we work hard a good result will come our way.”
It’s a comment that the Spanish coach certainly won’t disagree with after admitting in the wake of our 3-2 defeat to Arsenal that Liverpool remain ‘the biggest test we can face in England.’
The Citizens will pose a significantly stronger threat than Rangers did last night, of course, and we need to ensure all of the lads are right at it from the start all over the pitch.
With the likes of Luis Diaz, Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold all ruled out for the clash with Guardiola’s men it will be interesting to see the starting XI Jurgen Klopp opts for.
Winning the battle in midfield on Sunday is imperative because City can rip you apart if you allow the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva time on the ball.
Let’s hope for a huge performance from the lads to really kickstart our Premier League campaign.