Fabinho suffers Al Ittihad blow in ‘Saudi Clasico’ after Liverpool transfer
Fabinho completed his move from Liverpool to Al Ittihad this month but waits for his debute
Liverpool icon Fabinho is yet to make his Al Ittihad debut, but watched as his team crashed out of the Arab Club Championship Cup against Al Hilal.
Karim Benzema missed a penalty as Jorge Jesus’ side progressed to the semi-final. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic opened the scoring with a powerful header following his move from Serie A.
Ittihad were incensed by the opener after full-back Zakaria Al Hawasawi fell to ground in the build-up to the former Lazio captain’s opener.
Salem Aldawasari made it two on the stroke of half-time before former Barcelona attacker Malcom added a third. Romarinho reduced the deficit before the hour-mark and the Real Madrid legend, Benzema, had a chance to cut the deficit again but fired his spot-kick off the post.
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Fabinho completed his £40m move from Liverpool to the Middle East at the beginning of August. The midfielder didn’t feature in any of the Reds pre-season friendlies and missed the trips to Germany and Singapore due to interest from Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
The former Wolves boss explained that due to the Brazilian’s late arrival to the club, he would miss the Saudi Clasico with Al Hilal.
He said: “Fabinho started training with us from yesterday, and he cannot participate tomorrow.”
Fabinho will be hoping to make his bow for the reigning Saudi Pro League champions away to Al Raed next week as they get their title defence underway.
Former Liverpool teammate Jordan Henderson did however make his debut for Al Ettifaq on Saturday. The midfielder captained Steven Gerrard’s side, wearing the number 10 shirt, as they beat Abu Dhabi side Al Jazira in a friendly before their season gets underway against Al Nassr next week.
