‘I couldn’t believe’: Carragher shocked at what happened to £39m Liverpool ace v Atletico

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Jamie Carragher admitted that he ‘couldn’t believe’ that Fabinho didn’t start for Liverpool during their 3-2 win against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (19/10/21 at 9:00 pm).

Both Alisson Becker and Fabinho missed Liverpool’s 5-0 thrashing against Watford over the weekend, after their late return from Brazil duty.

Rather than travel from South America to England, they flew straight to Madrid in Spain, in order to be ready for their Champions League clash.

Alisson started the game, as expected, but Fabinho was named on the bench by Jurgen Klopp and the £39 million player (BBC Sport) was later brought on at half-time.

That left Carragher surprised because he felt, after Liverpool went 2-0 up, they were all over the shop and one of the best defensive players should have been played in the XI.

“I was really surprised that he wasn’t in the starting team,” said Carragher. “Liverpool are being cut to ribbons since they went 2-0.

“He is Liverpool’s best defensive midfielder, certainly one of the best in Europe. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t starting.

“I don’t know whether there was a problem when he came back from South America during the qualifying games. It just goes to show how important he is because he has been really missed.

“Liverpool’s back four and their goalkeeper have been overworked.”

Before Antoine Griezmann was shown a straight red card, he pulled Diego Simeone’s team back into the game with 14 minute brace.

It was none other than Mo Salah who put Liverpool ahead inside eight minutes, when he was allowed to cut in onto his left foot, and after a few deflections, the ball hit the back of the net.

The four minutes later, Naby Keita channelled his inner-Steven Gerrard again, when he volleyed his side ahead – his second volley of the season.

That’s when Griezmann hitback, before he was shown a straight red card for a high boot on Roberto Firmino in the second half.

But the game started with Salah, and ended with the red-hot Egyptian, because scored the winning goal from the penalty spot – just like the Champions League final against Spurs.