Trent Alexander-Arnold was unveiled as a Real Madrid player on Thursday and the Bernabeu club did not miss the opportunity to troll Barcelona.
Alexander-Arnold joins Dean Huijsen as a summer arrival at Real Madrid and will join the squad for the forthcoming FIFA World Cup.
The England international caught everyone off guard when he spoke in fluent Spanish during his announcement – a wink to the fact that he likely knew that he was destined for the Bernabeu far earlier than he publicly admitted – yet there were another couple of notable aspects to his unveiling.
Barca trolled
It remains an iconic moment in the Anfield club’s history as it sealed a remarkable comeback after losing the first leg 3-0 at Camp Nou. They claimed a 4-0 win thanks to Divock Origi scoring after Trent’s quick thinking.
After the goal, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp commented: “We see everything as a possibility. That was really, really smart from Trent. We wanted to be unpredictable. But that was a genius moment.”
Alexander-Arnold clearly remembers it fondly, too. While watching the compilation as a Real Madrid player for the first time, he gave a cheeky grin.
From Alexander-Arnold to Trent
In the other development that was made official at the unveiling, Trent showed off his new Real Madrid number. He will wear the No.12 shirt at the Bernabeu, having previously worn No.66 at Liverpool because it was the jersey he was first handed as a professional.
Los Blancos have previously had an iconic full-back wear this jersey, with Marcelo wearing the first from 2006-2022. The number was vacant last year, having been Eduardo Camavinga’s most recently.
Marca also reports that he has “changed his name”, although this simply means that instead of having ‘Alexander-Arnold’ on the back of his jersey, he will instead go by ‘Trent’.
Asked why this will be the case, he replied: “When I travel around Europe, I realise that my name is complicated. People call me many names, Arnold, Alex, Trent… So for this season, I thought I’d make it simple.”
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