RONALDO WILL BE EASY COMPARED TO MY FIRST REDS GAME!
Kop kid Trent has no fear of Madrid legend.. he has already faced *Brandon Barker (*a Hibs loanee)
IT is the ultimate test, marking Cristiano Ronaldo. But Trent Alexander-Arnold says he is up to the task – because he’s already come through the hardest game of his life.
That was on his first Anfield appearance two years ago, as a wide-eyed teenager hoping to make an impression in one of his first-ever games for Liverpool Under-21s.
Only trouble was, he was also making his debut as a right-back after his formative years as a midfielder, with the Reds keen to give him experience in different positions.
And he was up against the all-conquering Manchester City kids.
Alexander-Arnold (right) had a nightmare match, and was subbed as the torture got too much. “That’s probably one of the hardest games I’ve had,” said the 19-year-old, who has since impressed so much he’s won a place in England’s World Cup squad.
“It was one of the first times I’d played right-back. I was up against an unbelievable team and an unbelievable player in Brandon Barker.
“It brings back bad memories for me, but it’s those type of games that help you learn. They are the ones that you learn from the most. It’s not the good ones, it’s the bad ones.
“You make mistakes that you want to learn from, that you don’t want to happen again. And that’s what I try to do.” Two years on, Barker has been loaned out again for the third time by Manchester City, and spent the last season at Hibernian in the fumes of Celtic tearing away with the Scottish league. AlexanderArnold, meanwhile, is preparing to face Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the Champions League Final.
And when Alexander-Arnold was producing a stunning performance against Roma to announce his arrival on the world stage as a new, exciting talent, Barker was preparing for a game against Kilmarnock. Though they did win 5-3! “I’m not going to argue, I would have taken that a couple of years ago!” said the young Reds star. “I’ve worked hard for two years, and even longer than that, to get to this point and a lot more hard work will go into developing and hopefully keep getting better.” His display against City’s Leroy Sane in the quarter-final was pretty immense too. He became an instant social media star, with so many memes springing up showing a large playershaped bulge in his back pocket. “It’s hard to not see them, to be honest. But if you are seeing stuff like that, then you know you must have had a good game!” he added with a
smile. “There was a second leg to play the week after, and we had to focus on that. I tried to block it out as much as I could to focus again as the job was only halfway done.
“We got it done and, after the second leg, that’s when I could enjoy the memes!”
More importantly, keeping Sane quiet can only be good practice for facing Ronaldo... but AlexanderArnold interjects, “Most opponents aren’t Ronaldo!
“You have to show him respect but not too much, because that’s when you get taken advantage of. You have a job to do and whoever I am up against I will always try to come out on top.
“Obviously, the right preparation for these kind of tests is training against world-class team-mates like Mo Salah. All our players push each other every single day, and every day we see an improvement in all of us. We’ve come a long way this season and hopefully at the weekend we can top it off.”
It would be the perfect send-off for Russia of course. “Yeah, it’d be good to meet up with England knowing I’ve won the Champions League. But you can’t think too far ahead. We have a game on Saturday to ensure I can do that.”
Whatever happens, Trent knows he’s come a long way since that torrid night at Anfield.