Steve Nicol has admitted that he’s concerned about Trent Alexander-Arnold having to mark Real Madrid’s Vinicus Jr on Tuesday night.
The La Liga giants travel to Anfield for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash in what is a repeat of last season’s final which saw the Brazilian net the only goal of the game.
Liverpool and Real both picked up important 2-0 away wins in the respective league games yesterday to ensure they head into next week’s clash high on confidence.
“No thanks,” Nicol told ESPN (via The Boot Room) when asked how he felt about Alexander-Arnold going up against Vinicius Jr.
“Listen, Alexander-Arnold today, when Saint-Maximin came inside because they were down to ten men, he must have thinking ‘thank you very much’, because he had no idea what was going on.
“And that’s against a guy who can be good. The difference between Saint-Maximin and Vini, I’m sorry they’re a world apart.
“He knows what he’s doing. Vini’s got the confidence and the football brain to take advantage of situations against Alexander-Arnold.
“If he gets as much of the ball as he did in this game against Osasuna, then there could be trouble.”
Carlo Ancelotti’s side needed two late goals to pick up all three points against Osasuna while it was two early strikes for the Reds that saw them inflict just a second league defeat of the season on Newcastle.
Alexander-Arnold registered a sublime assist for Darwin Nunez in the north east and put in a decent shift defensively as Jurgen Klopp’s side kept consecutive league clean sheets for the first time since October.
We certainly feel that the Scouser receives far too much criticism regarding the defensive side of his game and it’s clear that we’re a much weaker outfit when he’s not in the starting XI.
Hopefully he can silence his critics once again on Tuesday night to ensure we take a positive result to the Bernabeu for the return leg next month.
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