Fabinho has revealed his Panenka in the Carabao Cup final was premeditated.
The Brazil international deceived Kepa Arrizabalaga during last month’s shootout victory over Chelsea at Wembley with the deftly chipped effort.
Jurgen Klopp’s side went on to edge out the west Londoners 11-10 thanks to Caoimhin Kelleher’s well-executed spot kick against his opposite number.
But Fabinho insists the idea for his own penalty had been hatched on the eve of the showdown while training alongside the Reds’ January recruit Luis Diaz.
He said “It was just me and Luis Diaz, with no goalkeeper in the goal.
“I told him: ‘Tomorrow if it goes to pens, I will shoot it like this.’ He didn’t believe me.
“But when I was walking to the box to take the penalty, it was in my mind to shoot a Panenka.
“When you shoot a penalty like this you know that, if you miss, when you come back to the dressing room everyone will kill you.
“But it was in my mind that I would take it like this and that I could do it.”
Liverpool head into Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 encounter with Inter Milan still in contention to win the three remaining trophies at their disposal.
It will mark a far cry from the dismal form which saw them rack up a sixth straight home defeat to relegation-threatened Fulham exactly 12 months ago.
“I remember this game. The confidence of the team was really low, it wasn’t the only game we lost at home,” admitted the midfielder.
“The moment wasn’t good but we won the next game against Leipzig and we started to change it around.
“Since the start of this season some of the players came back from injury and other things changed as well – I didn’t play centre-back any more!
“We’ve not had many injuries this season and we’ve won almost every home game, which is important.
“If you want to fight for the league you have to perform, not just at home, but at home is really important.”