Fabio Carvalho was brought on as a late substitute in the club’s defeat to Real Madrid.
As Liverpool headed to the Bernabeu on Wednesday evening to face Real Madrid, they did so with only a glimmer of hope.
The chances of overturning a 5-2 deficit against the most successful team in the competition’s history was always going to be a tall order, and that it was, as Jurgen Klopp’s men lost 1-0 on the night.
Typically, it was Karim Benzema who found the net on an evening where the Reds never really got going.
Mohamed Salah was guilty of rare errant passes in the final third, the midfield looked as toothless as it has all campaign and Trent Alexander-Arnold was cooked by Vinicius Jr on the right flank.
The defeat meant that any hope of winning a trophy has now disappeared. Considering how the last few years has played out at Anfield, that is a particular surprise.
Klopp and co now need to turn their attention to the summer and a transfer window that will be decisive in how they bounce back in 2023/24.
One man who could well leave the club during that period is Fabio Carvalho. The former Fulham man looked capable of magic moments in his early days in Merseyside but has barely featured of late, playing just two minutes of Premier League football following the World Cup.
He was then given a matter of seconds in Madrid on Wednesday as Klopp threw him into the action in the dying embers, quite literally. There was only around nine seconds left when the youngster was introduced into the fray.
It was a truly bizarre substitution and one that drew plenty of reaction on social media, the best of which can be found below.
