Rio Ferdinand has hailed Fabinho’s performance against Bayern Munich after the Liverpool midfielder filled in for the absent Virgil van Dijk at centre-back.
Van Dijk picked up a one-match ban for the first leg of Liverpool‘s last-16 Champions League clash against Bayern Munich and, with Dejan Lovren also missing, Fabinho started in the centre of defence with Joel Matip.
The much-anticipated clash against the German champions failed to live up to expectations as the two sides battled out a stalemate that was low on entertainment.
However, Fabinho did his job wonderfully, keeping the likes of Robert Lewandowski at bay for the 90 minutes and Ferdinand was very impressed with what he saw.
“I thought he was fantastic,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.
“I think for any player to come into the backline in such a big game – all eyes on him – especially having to replace the talisman, the best player in Virgil van Dijk, he did an admirable job.
“I thought every question asked of him he answered well, in the right way. He was aggressive when he needed to be.
“These kind of players are invaluable to a team; someone who can fill in, in variable positions – he can play right back, centre-half now, centre midfield. He scores goals and he’s having a great impact on this team. Very, very positive.”