Sports

Liverpool's Alexander-Arnold driven on by agony of last season's CL final

May 31, 2019
Liverpool's Roberto Firmino and Trent Alexander-Arnold during training at the Wanda Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid on Friday on the eve of the UEFA Champions League final football match against Tottenham Hotspur. — Reuters
Liverpool's Roberto Firmino and Trent Alexander-Arnold during training at the Wanda Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid on Friday on the eve of the UEFA Champions League final football match against Tottenham Hotspur. — Reuters

MADRID — Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold says the pain of losing in last season's Champions League final against Real Madrid will spur him on against Tottenham on Saturday.

After a 3-1 defeat in Kiev last May, Liverpool fought their way back to this year's final at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano stadium, where they will look to lift the European Cup for the first time since 2005.

Alexander-Arnold started last year against Madrid, who eased to victory with goals from Karim Benzema and a brace from Gareth Bale.

"The experience helped us, it would be daft to forget what happened last season," Alexander-Arnold told a news conference on Friday.

"We've learned from Madrid in Kiev, their style, the way they won the game. Over the course of the season we've proven why we're such a good side.

"Personally I don't want to feel tomorrow how I felt in Kiev last season. That will be running through my mind and I'll put that extra one or two percent in."

The English right-back and his Scottish teammate, Andrew Robertson, Liverpool's left-back, laid on a combined 23 assists for team mates this season in the Premier League.

The duo are one of Juergen Klopp's team's most potent attacking weapons and intend to keep attacking in Saturday's showpiece.

"We have respect for the opposition but we play in a certain style and try not to change that for any team," said Alexander-Arnold.

"We need to be high up the pitch and in their half, we'll try and play in our own way and not change it."

Robertson hopes to win the trophy for coach Klopp, who has sustained a six-match losing run in finals.

"Since he's come here he's changed how the club is," said Robertson. "We obviously want to try and repay him with a trophy. It's not just for him, it's for the team behind him and all the fans. Of course it would be nice to see him getting his hands on the trophy."

The final in Madrid is Liverpool's last chance to ensure they do not finish the season empty-handed and Alexander-Arnold said they deserved silverware for their performances under Klopp.

"We're at a place where we demand silverware from ourselves," Alexander-Arnold told ESPN in an interview. "It's not something we shy away from or are scared of. We're one of the best sides in the world.

"We can't put too much pressure on our first major season of competing on two big fronts but ultimately it's the objective we're striving towards.

"If we don't win a lot of silverware over the next few years then something has gone massively wrong, because with this manager... with the way that we've been playing, it's incredible and we will keep going and going. That will be rewarded."

This is Liverpool's second consecutive Champions League final and their fourth in 14 years, last winning the coveted trophy in 2005. — Reuters


May 31, 2019
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