‘Reds can exploit Ronaldo’s weaknesses’

LIVERPOOL: At just 19 years of age, Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold faces a daunting task of stopping five-time World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo in tomorrow’s Champions League final in Kiev.

But the fresh-faced right-back isn’t overawed by the prospect and believes he can even expose Ronaldo’s own weaknesses.

A whirlwind season for AlexanderArnold was capped by a call-up to England’s World Cup squad despite not having yet made his debut for the senior national side.

He has been just one of a number of success stories of Jurgen Klopp’s management to end an 11-year wait for Liverpool to reach a Champions League final.

And despite Ronaldo classing the competition’s all-time leading scorer as “one of the best players ever“, Alexander-Arnold is still confident the Portuguese can be shut down by an improving Liverpool defence.

“Obviously it will be,” he said when asked if facing Ronaldo is the biggest challenge of his young career.

“He’s one of the best players ever. He’s done unbelievable things in the game, but he’s got weaknesses as well, as every player has.

“On Saturday (tomorrow) we’ll try to exploit them and stop him from doing what he does best, to stop him from scoring.”

Alexander-Arnold hailed the role Klopp has had in his development, and insists he isn’t distracted by the fact he will be headed to Russia with England hot on the heels of tomorrow’s final.

“It’s down to my teammates and everyone who has helped me get better, the manager, everyone in the background that’s helped me,” he added.

“We’ve all pushed forward as a group and got better over the course of the season. It’s exciting times over the next few weeks, but the focus is on Saturday.”