Jermaine Jenas has praised Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold after the right-back played a key role in the winning goal against Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday.
Alexander-Arnold helped to set up Liverpool’s crucial fourth goal, in the Reds’ 4-0 second leg win, with some quick thinking whilst taking a corner towards the end of the game catching out Barcelona’s defence, as he passed the ball straight to the feet of Divock Origi who found the net from close range.
Jenas praised the English international’s footballing intelligence in the quick thinking he displayed to catch out Barcelona’s defence, and help to complete the dramatic turnaround that has seen Liverpool reach a second successive Champions League final.
“Sometimes when you’re young, you’re fearless, you don’t care what the manager’s going to say to you, because you’re young and you’ve got years ahead of you to go and do what you need to do, but he has that mixture of youth and intelligence that creates brilliance, and that was one of the big moments he’ll ever have in his career,” Jenas told BBC’s Football Focus on Saturday [12:11pm].
OPINION
Jenas is right to praise the crucial impact that Alexander-Arnold had on Liverpool’s fourth and tie winning goal against Barcelona on Tuesday. The Englishman showed great intelligence in managing to catch out Barcelona’s defence as the Reds won a corner towards the end of the game. Barcelona’s defenders were getting set-up to deal with delivery once all of Liverpool’s players had come forward for the set piece, but Alexander-Arnold spotted that and decided to risk the wrath of Klopp. had it gone wrong, and pick out Origi who was unmarked from close range to score the winner. The England international’s confidence is sky high after an impressive season and that was evident in that moment, highlighting his ability to read the game at crucial stages and cope with the potential risk of giving the ball away. That is a vital skill to play at the highest levels of the game, and it is something which the full-back will only get better at throughout his career.
