Andy Robertson stated that ‘nobody touches’ Trent Alexander-Arnold when he is at the top of his game, as he told Liverpool’s pre-match press conference.
The Scotsman labelled his fullback counterpart as ‘world-class’ and thinks he should take recent scrutiny surrounding his performances as a ‘compliment’.
Alexander-Arnold has shown two sides to his game during this past fortnight – his performances in the Premier League against Arsenal and Aston Villa, and that defensive mistake against Real Madrid in the first leg.
But that fire was already lit when TAA was snubbed by England recently, which has sparked debate as to whether the boy in Red should be on that plane to the Euros.
Robertson, who is a close friend of TAA, made it clear that he should just take it all in his stride.
“For me, it’s a sign of a world-class player,” said Robertson. “When world-class players don’t perform to the level they have done then people criticise them more.
“People criticise them more than your normal player, for me, I know it’s hard for Trent, but he should take it as some form of compliment.
“The fact that so much noise has been made about him. But, for me, the teammates and somebody who is close to him and cares about him, it’s just about trying to keep his confidence at the highest level because when it’s like that then nobody touches him.
“I thought on Saturday, he put on a very good performance. I thought against Arsenal, he was excellent. Of course, he struggled against Madrid, but we all did. Not one of us played well.
“But more gets said about Trent’s performances than anybody else.”
A corner might not be taken quickly tonight by TAA, but that doesn’t rule out a possible comeback by Liverpool.
Even though the Premier League champions are chasing the tie, it does suit TAA’s game because it allows him to be more on the front foot against Real Madrid.
If he can produce a top performance against the LA Liga giants, and help Liverpool progress, then it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Jamie Carragher serve Gary Neville some humble pie.
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