Former Liverpool midfielder has admitted it’s not easy lining up opposite his ex-Brazil and Reds team-mate Roberto Firmino as the two prepare to square off in the Sea Derby in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
Fabinho plays for second-placed Al-Ittihad, while Firmino plays for Al-Ahli, who sit ninth in the Saudi Pro League. The pair both left Liverpool for the gulf state in summer 2023
And Fabinho has admitted that he doesn’t like taking on his old team-mate, and even was forced to apologise to Firmino for a tackle that left the forward bruised in last season’s fixture.
He said: “It is not nice! Bobby is one of my good friends that I have made in football, he is a very good player, so I never like to play against him. Last season when we played against them, I made a hard tackle on him and after the game he sent me a photo of his ankle!
I said: ‘Sorry, Bobby!’ After the game we can talk but, in the game, I will fight for my side and my team. It’s nice to be in the same city as him, to see him off the pitch often.
“Our families also are in contact, and he is a very good friend, but on the pitch and in the derby, I am with Al Ittihad and he is with Al Ahli.”
He added: “For us it is a really important game, the team is in a really good moment. We are second in the league just behind Al Hilal and we want to be at the top, so we have to win this game.
This will be my third derby, the first two were not very good for us. We lost both of them, so it is an opportunity to give a nice result to our fans. The fans they are asking for us to give everything to win this game.”
Fabinho made 219 appearances for Liverpool after joining in a £40m deal from Monaco in 2018. Along with Firmino he won the Champions League, Club World Cup and helped end the club’s 30 year wait for a league title.
