Fabio Borini taking Europa League seriously

Fabio Borini has backed himself to start scoring regularly for Liverpool despite a slow start following his summer move from Roma.

Borini has scored one goal in nine appearances since Brendan Rodgers paid £10.5 million to bring him to Anfield, and has yet to find the net in the Premier League. Rodgers worked with the young Italian striker in the reserve set-up at Chelsea before taking him to Swansea on loan two seasons ago, and has every faith in him to come good.

Borini is not worried about his scoring rate either, pointing out that he only scored once in Serie A before Christmas with Roma last season, before finding the net a further eight times during the second half of the campaign.

The 21-year-old is aiming to boost his goal tally against Udinese in the Europa League at Anfield on Thursday night, and to prove he can shoulder the burden of leading a Premier League attack.

Borini said: "I am not finding things difficult as such. In fact, thinking back, last year I only scored the one goal in October. All my other goals in Serie A came after January.

"I've already scored here in the Europa League, and perhaps now it's October again, it's the time to start scoring in the Premier League as well.

"I think it's just a matter of time. It's not a question of me finding it difficult to get used to playing at this level and in this league, because I've played here before.

"I'm not really finding it difficult, and I think it's a matter of time before my first league goal comes."

Borini's only goal for Liverpool so far came in a Europa League qualifier against Belarusian club Gomel in August.

Rodgers has had to press the youngster into regular action, though, because of a shortage of strikers, having allowed Andy Carroll to join West Ham on a season's loan without managing to get in a replacement.

"Fabio was brought in here for the present, but also for the future," Rodgers said. "He's a young player I know very well, and over time, he'll only get better and better.

"He's a good kid who wants to work well. And there's no doubt over the coming years, he'll prove to be a very good player for the club."

Borini, for his part, is grateful for the faith Rodgers has shown in him. The striker added: "I feel as if I have a lot of trust from the manager.

"That's really helpful, because I know in training I can try new stuff. I don't have the pressure to demonstrate that I'm more than what I am, because he already knows me."

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