Loris Karius, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dejan Lovren, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. If I could give every single starter for the quarter-final tie against Manchester City Man of the Match I probably would.
However, I can’t and it’s a very good job that the youngest lad on that list stood out and made this decision a lot easier than it could have been.
Trent Alexander Arnold, the boy from Liverpool, was absolutely immense last night. Just to think when The Reds won the Champions League in 2006 this boy was 6 years old. Last night he helped put Jürgen Klopp’s team one step closer to qualifying for the semi-final with an excellent performance.
The number 66 had his best game I’ve ever seen him play. He was up against one of the most complete wingers in the Premier League and made him look very average. Pep Guardiola tried to target the 19-year old, but Alexander-Arnold demonstrated to both Pep, Leroy Sane and the rest of Anfield why he is part of the future at Liverpool Football Club.
His positional awareness was a lot better than it has been in recent weeks. I think he’ll admit himself he got caught out for the opener against Manchester United a couple of weeks ago. However, there were no mistakes like that last night. He obviously went away and with help from Klopp and his team, worked on this and has developed this part of his game massively.
With the passing magicians in that Manchester City side, you have to be fully focused for the duration of the 90 minutes. He certainly was. His concentration was outstanding and he never let Sane out of his sight. Just when City thought their German winger would have a chance, back came the young right-back to win the ball back or just make it difficult for the pacy winger.
Sane is quick, very quick in fact. So is Trent Alexander-Arnold. The boy is rapid and he used his speed to keep up with Sane all night and numb his threat, make recovery tackles and glide away from danger.
Passion as well. I think every Liverpool fan loves it when their player shows the passion to want to win, and boy did he want that result. Roaring his team and the whole of Anfield on with ten minutes to go at the age of nineteen is amazing, I feel we could be looking at a future captain of Liverpool, especially if he can keep recreating performances like this.
We didn’t get to see as much of his attacking game, certainly in the second half as he was restricted to defending. But who cares. We know he’s got a very special delivery and like I’ve already mentioned, is absolutely rapid. So, it was good to focus on the defensive side of his game and show the world, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
Like I have already noted at the start, special mentions go to the rest of the side who were all absolutely superb, and nobody, maybe apart from Jordan Henderson getting booked, did much wrong.
All round one of the best performances this season, showing a threatening attack and a very strong defence.
Maybe one of Klopp’s best performances as well. Tactically he smashed Guardiola and his team off of the park and demonstrated why Liverpool are not scared of any team in the world.