Fabinho made an unforgettable cameo when he came off the bench and played his part in Liverpool’s defeat at Brighton, somehow avoiding a red card.
Introduced for the impressive Stefan Baisetic with 84 minutes on the clock at the AMEX, Fabinho looked far from it as soon as he took the field.
His touch was wayward, and he failed to cope with crucial problems, losing both of his attempts at the duel and knocking out Brighton striker Evan Ferguson with a spike tackle.
The young Irishman was forced to leave the field, while referee David Coote, who initially showed Fabinho a yellow card, was waiting for the verdict from VAR.
Somehow, despite the fact that Fabinho was clearly expecting to be fired when he was talking to Joe Gomez next door, the decision was upheld and the Brazilian stayed on the pitch.
🗣 "I can't understand how the VAR referee can say that isn't a red… it's a terrible challenge! You can see from the player's reaction – he knows it's a red and he's just waiting to be sent off."
Fabinho was booked for this foul – should he have been sent off? pic.twitter.com/tqRjWMs5xl
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 29, 2023
Of course, it didn’t really matter, as Liverpool conceded late due to Kauro Mitoma and were eliminated from the FA Cup at the fourth round stage.
Speaking as part of ITV’s coverage of the match, former Brighton striker Glenn Murray, now retired, criticised the “terrible challenge” that stumped him over the VAR decision.
“For me, this is an incident that changes the match, so it needs to be reviewed,” he said.
“I don’t understand how VAR referee Neil Swarbrick can say it’s not red. It’s a terrible challenge.
“You can see by the player’s reaction, he knows it’s red. He’s just waiting to be removed and somehow stays on the field.
“It’s just me as a professional footballer, not as a former Brighton player.
Murray was joined in the studio by ex-England midfielder Karen Carney, who claimed that it was enough for Coote to look at Fabinho’s reaction to understand that it was red.
“Sometimes the referees just come up and look at the player who has violated the rules, and then you realize that it will be a red card,” she said.
“He knows. It’s late, it’s a terrible ordeal, and I feel for Ferguson.
“But [Fabinho] knows he should have been sent there.”
There are few Liverpool fans who could argue that Fabinho did not deserve the red at the AMEX, which would be the second for the club this season after Darwin Nunez.
A red card in the FA Cup would have led to disqualification, which would have transferred to the Premier League.
