Lionel Messi has praised Trent Alexander-Arnold, calling Liverpool’s right-back ‘the future’ in a list of rising stars he produced for UEFA.
The pair came up against each other last season in the Champions League, with Messi dominating the first-leg and scoring twice – but Trent helping us to a 4-0 victory at Anfield to ensure qualification to the final we eventually won v Spurs.
“A full-back who is impressive for the future, he is the future,” Messi said of the 21-year-old, cited in the Echo.
On that famous night, Trent’s delivery was especially brilliant – and his quickly-taken corner to set up Divock Origi for the winner will go down in our history forever.
In terms of assists, he racks up just about as many as any other player in Europe – bar maybe Messi himself and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne.
Considering Trent is only 21, his potential for greatness is absolutely enormous. What’s more, he’ll surely stay at Anfield for the next decade considering he’s a local lad and loves the club he’s been at since he was six.
One day, he’ll surely captain Liverpool, too.