Liverpool news: Trent Alexander-Arnold’s top five moments in a Liverpool shirt
Reports over the past week suggest that Liverpool’s local hero, Trent Alexander-Arnold, is set to leave his boyhood club to join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer.
The 26-year-old has been at the club since the age of six but, with his contract expiring in June, the gifted right-back looks set to swap Merseyside for Madrid when his deal expires.
In doing so, the number 66 will follow in the footsteps of Michael Owen and Steve McManaman as academy players to swap Liverpool for Los Blancos, with the latter also leaving for nothing.
As fans debate whether or not Trent’s legacy will be tarnished by the potential switch, Sports News Blitz writer and Liverpool fan Jack Burgess remembers his top five moments in a red shirt.
Announcing himself against Hoffenheim – 2017
The excitement around TAA can probably be traced to the release of Steven Gerrard’s 2015 autobiography, My Story, when the Liverpool legend name-checked Trent as one for the future.
Just 13 months on from the release of that book, the fresh-faced 18-year-old from West Derby put in a MOTM performance on his debut against Leeds United in the EFL Cup, leading many to believe Gerrard’s prophecy to be true.
Though the buzz around the number 66 had begun long before, it was his first goal against Hoffenheim in August 2017 where TAA truly announced himself at Liverpool.
In what was a crucial first-leg Champions League qualifier in Germany, the right-back scored from what would soon become a trademark free-kick routine to put the Reds 1-0 up.
Demonstrating an unbelievable amount of confidence to step up and take the set-piece ahead of more senior players, the youngster’s low finish into the bottom corner set Liverpool on their way to a first campaign in elite European competition since 2014.
While more famous European nights would come for Liverpool’s local lad, the importance of his first goal cannot be understated.
It also set Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool up for bigger and better things to come, including Trent’s most famous moment in a red shirt in May 2019.
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Boxing Day masterclass at Leicester – 2019
A lot happened in the three years after TAA burst onto the scene at Anfield.
By the time Liverpool headed to Leicester City on Boxing Day 2019, the then 21-year-old had already played in two Champions League finals for the Reds.
The crushing low of Kyiv 2018 had been rewarded with the ecstasy of Madrid twelve months later, with an agonisingly close title race with Manchester City sandwiched in between.
After the heartbreak of 2018-19, when the Reds achieved 97 points only to miss out on the Premier League by two points, Liverpool and TAA arrived at the King Power on a mission.
The Foxes had emerged as Liverpool’s closest rivals but still lagged ten points behind the Reds.
Many expected a close battle, but Leicester clearly lagged behind Klopp’s relentless Reds on the pitch as Liverpool ran Brendan Rodgers’ team absolutely ragged in a 4-0 thumping.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the result flattered Leicester, and Trent’s goal was really the pick of the bunch.
Having already assisted Roberto Firmino minutes earlier, TAA ran onto Sadio Mane’s pass to drive the ball past a helpless Kasper Schmeichel and wrap up a statement victory for the Reds.
And while it was a complete team display, by having the final say on proceedings, the night will always be remembered for the Scouser’s iconic performance.
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Sparking Anfield into life to sink Arsenal’s title hopes – 2023
The 2022-23 season was Trent’s most difficult at Liverpool.
For all of his attacking prowess from full-back, the background noise regarding his defensive frailties had become louder and louder.
On the pitch, TAA was more frequently exposed as the Reds slumped to a disappointing fifth place in the Premier League.
When surprise table-toppers Arsenal travelled to L4 in April, hoping for a statement win to help secure a first league title since 2004, many Reds fans were fearing the worst.
As the Gunners raced into a 2-0 lead, it seemed like the nightmare had become reality.
Anfield was stunned, with any hopes of a comeback very much fading – that is, until Granit Xhaka did something stupid and picked on Liverpool’s home-grown hero.
Heading towards half-time with the game in the bag, the Swiss international went in needlessly late on TAA, leaving the right-back furious.
As the two squared off near the box, Anfield erupted, with the incident providing the spark Liverpool needed to get back into the game.
Mo Salah scored minutes later, before a feral Anfield atmosphere in the second half inspired a bit of magic from Liverpool’s right-back.
Nutmegging Oleksandr Zinchenko before clipping a delightful ball to the back post for Firmino to equalise, TAA demonstrated the criticisms over his defending were far outweighed by his technical ability.
Although not as big a moment as it seems, derailing Arsenal’s title charge was the best Liverpool could hope for, and Trent’s performance epitomised the special relationship the Kop can have with its local players.
The Kop needed Trent and, after a difficult campaign, Trent needed them.
Boy did both deliver.
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Last-minute winner in front of the Kop against Fulham – 2024
With pinpoint free kicks, inch-perfect crosses, and a corner taken quickly (still to come on this list), the only thing missing from Trent’s repertoire was a last-minute winner in front of the Kop.
The long wait for such a moment came to a close in December 2023 when Fulham rocked up to Anfield and gave Liverpool a good run for their money.
Trent was unfortunate to have his opening free kick put down as a Bernd Leno own goal, but a worldie from Alexis Mac Allister put the Reds 2-1 up and left the Kop thinking normal service had resumed.
Goals from Kenny Tete and Bobby Decordova Reid, however, meant Liverpool needed two goals in the last ten minutes to rescue three points at Anfield.
Fortunately, Liverpool were kicking towards the Kop, and cult hero Wataru Endo soon curled an equaliser into the top corner.
But that effort paled in comparison to the reaction when Trent volleyed home on 88 minutes to snatch victory for the Reds.
Of course, the goal did not set Liverpool on the path to glory that season, meaning his heroics will never stick like Gerrard’s goal against Olympiakos in 2005.
Yet, at the time it felt like a significant moment, and a local lad snatching an important victory in a three-horse race for the title remains an awesome moment.
Corner taken quickly catches Barcelona unawares – 2019
I doubt any Liverpool fans need me to write this entry.
Liverpool reached the Champions League semi-finals for the second season running in 2018-19 but fell to a 3-0 defeat against Barcelona in the first leg at the Nou Camp.
Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the Reds had won nine games on the bounce but it still wasn’t enough to take the title away from Manchester.
The players had spent the night before the return-leg at Anfield watching Vincent Kompany’s late thunderbolt against Leicester effectively hand City the title.
An extraordinary Liverpool season that had promised so much looked set to be petering out with a whimper.
That was until a moment of quick thinking from TAA and a Liverpool ball-boy changed the trajectory of the Reds’ season.
Without Salah and Firmino, and despite losing Andy Robertson to injury at half-time, Liverpool had battled on to find themselves 3-0 up against Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.
Divock Origi had opened the scoring before a quick-fire double from Gini Wijnaldum in the second half, the first courtesy of a TAA cross, had sent Anfield into bedlam and left Barcelona on their knees.
The game looked to be heading to extra time until ball-boy Oakley Cannonier threw TAA the ball as the right-back stepped up to take a corner.
Catching the Barcelona players napping, Trent’s quickly taken corner found an unmarked Origi in the center of the box to fire home and complete an improbable comeback.
Of course, Liverpool went on to lift the trophy against Tottenham Hotspur in May, when Trent delivered his famous line: “I am just a normal lad from Liverpool whose dream has just come true.”
Despite the reaction from Liverpool fans over Trent’s decision to head for Madrid, his name will always be synonymous with the words ‘corner taken quickly’.
TAA may not have many moments like that left in a Liverpool shirt, but the ones he leaves behind will always be remembered fondly by Kopites.
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