Trent Alexander-Arnold left Liverpool to sign for Real Madrid ahead of the Club World Cup, with the player returning to Anfield for a huge Champions League encounter on Tuesday evening. The right-back has recently returned from a hamstring injury that kept him out for seven matches.
Alexander-Arnold played 354 games for the Reds after progressing through the club’s academy and won a host of trophies with the club, including two Premier League titles. But he’s had a slow start to his Real career and has only featured in five matches since the Club World Cup, with three of those appearances coming as a substitute. He appears to be settling in well off the pitch, however. And Express Sport takes a look at the player’s life in Spain.
Inner circle
According to the Daily Mail, Alexander-Arnold has a good friendship base in Spain, having moved to the La Finca district of the city.
He spends a lot of time with Jude Bellingham, as well as former Bournemouth defender Dean Huijsen, who also joined Madrid in the summer.
And the ex-Liverpool ace also lives near to his fellow England team-mate Conor Gallagher, who plays for Atletico Madrid.
Learning Spanish
Alexander-Arnold is working with personal language coach, Sara Duque, who taught Julian Alvarez to speak English when the striker played for Manchester City.
Duque has been preparing the Englishman to answer questions in Spanish during press conferences and has also coached the player to talk to team-mates.
Lessons are said to be intense but fun, with the language coach focusing sessions around football.
Liverpool snub
Alexander-Arnold has remained in contact with Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konate since moving to Madrid. But he hasn’t engaged much with Reds captain Virgil van Dijk as a Real player.
Van Dijk was asked whether he would be speaking to his former team-mate ahead of the Champions League showdown. And the Dutchman said: “No. Nothing personal whatsoever, obviously I live my life and he lives his life in Madrid.”
Van Dijk then extolled the defender as he added: “Trent is a quality player. He showed it so many times, he’s a very gifted player and he was important for us over all those years.
“I was very happy to have him in my team. We have been very successful, but now he’s an opponent. If he plays then we have to make it very difficult for him to do what he’s good at.”
