Trent Alexander-Arnold will rarely be afforded the same attacking freedom he had in Liverpool’s win over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening.
The Reds’ marauding right-back was let loose at Anfield as he took full advantage of Neymar’s incompetence as defensive support.
Football’s most expensive player of all time displayed an astonishing and unyielding ignorance to his duties as assistance to left-back Juan Bernat.
Time and time again he left a gaping hole in his path in favour of pursuing attacking ambitions that not once threatened to materialise into sustained periods of danger for Liverpool.
Alexander-Arnold was never going to pass up the opportunity to break forward and flex the crossing expertise that have seen him emerge as a valuable attacking outlet for Jurgen Klopp’s men.
The 19-year-old spent the majority of the game inside PSG’s half, where Neymar was evidently nowhere to be seen, as displayed by WhoScored.com.
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His 91 touches in the game compared to Neymar’s 64 sum up just how prominent he was throughout thanks to the lack of defensive cover for Bernat.
The Englishman would have seen his efforts deservedly rewarded had Daniel Sturridge been able to convert his perfectly-weighted cross into another headed goal.
On the other side of the ball, Liverpool’s teenage star was more than up to the task of thwarting Neymar as an attacking threat.
In another astoundingly mature performance, he stood firm against the winger’s trickery to tick off yet another world star he has pocketed over the past year.
Between his expert delivery, his reliability when retaining the ball and his energy to get up and down the pitch with ease, Liverpool continue to benefit from Alexander-Arnold’s midfield roots.