In the Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over Manchester City, Liverpool midfielder Fabinho has stated why he “wasn’t very worried” about Erling Haaland.
WHAT OCCURED?
At Anfield on Sunday, two Premier League powerhouses squared off, with Mohamed Salah’s lone goal making the difference in an exciting game. Norwegian sensation Haaland, who has scored 20 goals in all competitions this season, was held scoreless on Merseyside thanks to the efforts of Jurgen Klopp’s defense, which allowed players like Fabinho to divert their attention.
The Brazil international midfielder has told ESPN of facing one of the most fearsome strikers in world football: “I think that, in my case, I wasn’t so worried about him because I already had Bernardo (Silva), (Ilkay) Gundogan and Foden on my side.I was trying to close the spaces between the lines, then they do the movements very well, so they pass on the back of the full-backs very well. We were working well on the right side with (James) Milner, Joe Gomez, so communication and also understanding with the other players is very important, and I think it worked very well. Then the two defenders played an excellent game, they managed to close Haaland’s spaces well.
“Of course, a player of that quality will always be able to have space, create chances, which is what happened, but Alisson was also very secure, so I’m happy to have managed to close the spaces of a team as good as City.”
Haaland has failed to score for City against just two opponents this season: Liverpool and Bournemouth. The Reds also stopped him in the Community Shield match at Leicester’s King Power Stadium back in July.
