Fabinho has praised Liverpool youngster Stefan Bajcetic and outlined what his side’s 'goal' is between now and the end of the season.
Bajcetic restored Liverpool's two-goal advantage two minutes after coming on as a substitute in a 3-1 win at Aston Villa in their first league match since the World Cup break.
The 18-year-old joined Liverpool from his hometown club Celta Vigo in November 2021, signing his first professional contract with the Premier League side at the age of 17.
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Ben Doak was also handed his Premier League debut in the closing stages at Villa Park, and speaking post-match, Fabinho praised the manner in which Bajcetic conducts himself at the club.
He said: “I think I can talk a little bit about Stefan, since the beginning of the season, he’s someone who’s put in hard work in training and when he gets the opportunity to play he tries his best.
“He’s someone who really listens when we speak to them or Pep and Vito with the young players.
“It was really nice, really calm, when it came to him I thought ‘shoot, shoot’ but he took it round the goalkeeper and scored. He was really happy but he’s calm, it was his first goal for the team and hopefully not the last!"
Goals from Mohamed Salah and Virigl van Dijk fired the Reds into a 2-0 first-half lead at Villa Park. Ollie Watkins hit back with a header in the second-half before Bajcetic came off the bench to seal all three points for his side.
The win moved Liverpool five points behind Tottenham Hotspur in the table, and Fabinho has revealed his side’s goal between now and the end of the season is to close the gap on the teams around them.
“This is the goal, try to close the gap to the other teams,” he told Amazon Prime post-match. “Tottenham is in the first position so we have to close the gap to them.
“It was important the win today, as I said before our position isn’t good, not the perfect position, we have to win games, play better football and try to keep in this rhythm."
Before he added: “I think in general we played a good game, it’s never easy to play here against Villa but I think the first-half we we’re the much better team so it was important to score the two goals.
“In the second half they come back different to score goals and equalise. We had to suffer, suffered, then the subs really helped us so yes really important three points.”
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