FABINHO’S WEMBLEY INJURY SCARE

THE Liverpool medic reached for his microphone, a brief message filtered through to the dugout, and assistant manager Pep Lijnders let out a cry of frustration. And just like that, inside a bubbling Villa Park, Fabinho’s night was over, Jurgen Klopp’s best-laid plans hit a snag and even a brilliant, battling victory carried a small asterisk. Liverpool march on, their hopes of a quadruple still alive. Alas, only time will tell if a casualty suffered here will come back to bite them at Wembley, or Paris. ‘Fab felt something and that is a big blow for us,’ said Klopp. ‘Hopefully it won’t be too bad but we do not know yet.’ The Liverpool boss had warned of the injury risk to his players ahead of this, the 59th game of a punishing season. That explained his five changes against Aston Villa, well-earned rests for Mo Salah and Co. And yet for all of Liverpool’s success in revolving the cast of their front three this season, there remain some areas where rotation will always come at a cost. They have no obvious double for Alisson or Virgil van Dijk — who could? — and no-one shields their back four with the intelligence and industry of Fabinho. No wonder, then, Lijnders struggled to hide his frustration after the Brazilian’s night ended after half an hour. The irony here was that Fabinho had endured a tough evening until then and the injury occurred after he was pressed into surrendering possession by Philippe Coutinho. He reached for the back of his thigh as he scrambled back towards goal; hamstring injuries don’t tend to be run off. And so immediately minds began to wander. To Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea. Even to the Champions League final at the end of this month. Klopp has options aplenty in midfield and Jordan Henderson deputised well after coming on for the Brazilian last night. But, ideally, Henderson would sit alongside Fabinho and Thiago in Liverpool’s biggest games. Klopp may have to rethink those plans now. Elsewhere, however, selection for Wembley might be a tad easier. In midfield, neither Naby Keita nor Curtis Jones left much of a mark on the game. Keita’s most notable contribution was a glorious miss in the first half. No wonder Thiago came on, for Jones, at the hour. At left back, Konstantinos Tsimikas made one crucial challenge on Ollie Watkins but remains raw. Andrew Robertson will come in for him. Replacing Fabinho won’t come so easily.