Trent Alexander\u2011Arnold has made peace with the mixed reception he expects when Real Madrid visit Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
After 354 appearances, 92 assists and eight trophies for Liverpool, including the club\u2019s first two Premier League titles, Alexander\u2011Arnold left Merseyside when his contract expired in June. \u201cI need a change,\u201d he explained in May once it had been announced that he would not sign an extension to a contract which expired in June, \u201ca new challenge for me as a player and as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision provoked a strong reaction. Posters appeared across Merseyside questioning his loyalty, and on his first appearance for Liverpool after announcing his departure he was booed by large sections of Anfield. Many fans were particularly unhappy that he ran down his contract before joining Real Madrid, a club some Liverpool supporters view as a European rival.<\/p>\n
Even as current boss Arne Slot declined to single out supporters, the crowd\u2019s response was criticised by several Liverpool players and J\u00fcrgen Klopp. Liverpool later gave Alexander\u2011Arnold a warm send\u2011off as they celebrated the top\u2011flight title in May.<\/p>\n
Alexander\u2011Arnold has been candid about his feelings ahead of the return. \u201cWhatever way I\u2019m received, is the decision of the fans,\u201d he told Amazon Prime Video. \u201cI\u2019ll always love the club, I\u2019ll always be a fan of the club. I\u2019ll always be thankful for the opportunities and the things that we achieved together… they\u2019ll live with me forever. No matter what, my feeling won\u2019t change towards Liverpool. I\u2019ve got memories there that will last me a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first months in Madrid were disrupted by injury but he is back in contention for the group\u2011stage fixture. He has not featured since damaging his hamstring on Sept. 16 and is unlikely to start, but could be introduced from the bench. If he does score, it would be only the third Champions League goal of his career; \u201cIf I was to score, then no I wouldn\u2019t celebrate to be honest,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the fixture draw, he conceded: “When I made the decision to move on, it was probably destined that at some point being here I\u2019d play against Liverpool,” Alexander\u2011Arnold wryly conceded. He also reached out to a number of his former teammates after the August announcement of the tie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alexander-Arnold accepts Anfield reception after move to Real Madrid and vows to stay thankful ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4237,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,987],"tags":[1047,1032,1215],"class_list":["post-4238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-real-madrid","tag-champions-league","tag-contract-disputes","tag-controversy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}