Jurgen Klopp is still waiting to learn whether Dejan Lovren will be able to play a part in Liverpool’s Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Lovren remains a doubt for the last-16 first leg at Anfield having not played since suffering a hamstring injury against Wolverhampton Wanderers last month.
With Virgil van Dijk suspended and Joe Gomez sidelined with a broken leg, Klopp is short of options in the centre of defence and may need to turn to a makeshift.
Fabinho, naturally a midfielder, is likely to slot in alongside Joel Matip if Lovren does not recover in time to play against Bayern.
“Dejan, we have to see,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference on Monday.
The Liverpool manager had claimed he was waiting “minute by minute” on the Croatian earlier that morning.
“If – if – [Fabinho plays there] in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, it’s not an easy job,” Klopp added at his press conference.
“But we thought it makes sense we don’t leave our last row alone defending against Bayern, [so] it all depends how we defend in general. That’s it.
“There will be a lot of moments where we have to defend and we worked on that, we tried to work on that because we respect the quality of Bayern Munich a lot – speed, technique, experience, it’s all there what you need to be successful.
“We respect that and we try to make the best of the situation.”
Jordan Henderson, meanwhile, admitted that Van Dijk will be a "massive miss", even though the Liverpool captain believes the squad can cope without him.
“I think he’s played every game this season so I think you can see how important he is for us as a team," Henderson said.
"But at the same time I feel as though we have enough quality in the team to be able to cope with it tomorrow night, and not just relying on our two centre-halves to defend - it’s up to the whole team to defend and we do it together.
“So whoever plays there I am sure will know the role and what’s expected of them. But of course he’ll be a big loss.”
