Former Liverpool midfielder Fabinho’s connection with manager Carlo Ancelotti has come full circle. Once rivals in Europe, they are now on the same side with the Brazilian national team.
As relayed by [**TNT Sports**](https://x.com/TNTSportsBR/status/1988377447234957626?s=20), he midfielder spoke about how it feels to be coached by someone he used to face during his Liverpool days.
_“I’ve faced him a few times, and most of the time I wasn’t very lucky. I think he won almost all of them when he was at Real Madrid against Liverpool,”_ Fabinho admitted.
Those duels often came in decisive Champions League encounters. Ancelotti’s Madrid usually had the upper hand.
But few people remember that Fabinho’s story with the Spanish club began long before those nights in Europe. Back in 2012, he signed a six-year contract with Portuguese side Rio Ave. He was immediately loaned to Real Madrid Castilla, the club’s B team. His first-team debut came in May 2013, before leaving for Monaco.
_“I was even talking to Ancelotti’s assistant. We were remembering the past to see if we’d worked together at Real Madrid,”_ he said. _“I told him no, because I left at the end of the season and they arrived at the start of the next one.”_
Now, more than a decade later, Fabinho finally finds himself under the command of the man who so often frustrated him as an opponent.
It’s a fitting twist in his journey. From a brief spell in Madrid to his prime years in Liverpool, and now to a new chapter with Ancelotti leading Brazil. The midfielder seems eager to turn those memories of defeat into lessons under one of football’s most successful managers.