LIVERPOOL, England -- Fabinho has admitted to ESPN Brasil that his period of adaptation at Liverpool was difficult to deal with at times.
Fabinho was made to wait until late September to make his first start for Liverpool, with manager Jurgen Klopp affording the €50 million summer signing time to adjust to his tactical concepts.
The defensive midfielder, however, starred in Liverpool's wins over Red Star Belgrade and Cardiff City this week -- starting and playing the entire 90 minutes of those games.
"I'm very happy to play my second match in a row as first-choice, played the full match. It is very good for me," Fabinho said.
"This moment to adapt, it hasn't been easy -- many times you are out, there were many times I wasn't [picked].
"But I tried to learn from all this, tried to give my best during practice. The coaches were very nice to me, they didn't let me get down. I worked to be well prepared.
"[I] got the opportunity last Wednesday, I believe I [had] a good match, and [against Cardiff] I believe I helped the team at the midfield.
"The moment is good, being called has helped too. So I'm very happy, I hope I can keep it. I know the rate here is very high, you have to always try to keep a good performance, and in our team we have a lot of options in the midfield.
"Of course it's not possible to be always called, but whenever the coach needs me I want to be ready for it."
Fabinho made his first start in the Premier League on Saturday as Liverpool breezed past Cardiff 4-1 at Anfield thanks to a double from Sadio Mane and goals from Mohamed Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri.
The win saw Liverpool move to the top of the table, with Manchester City in action on Monday night when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur.
"The match was rough," Fabinho continued. "We scored one during first half, which was important, but the match was very intense in the midfield.
"After we scored the second goal, we thought it would be easier but they scored after.
"Only at the last 10 minutes that we could get an easier game and scored the third and fourth goals.
"This is Premier League, I'm still learning day by day how rough the games can be. I'm happy we did it."