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Trent Alexander-Arnold would have known it was coming. When Xabi Alonso turned to him off the bench at Anfield, it didn't take a commentator saying his name to identify who was about to come on.
The Real Madrid number 12's name was jeered when it was read out over the tannoy before the game, and the boos only got louder when he stood on the touchline ready to emerge. Each touch was greeted with the same noise, punctuated only by a higher-pitched sound when he misplaced a pass or overhit a cross.
"Trent is a local boy and he is one of their own, as they would say, and they feel a type of way," CBS Sports analyst Nigel Reo-Coker said, going on to agree with similar comments from Peter Schmeichel.
"Looking at Liverpool and the money they have spent, they are making a statement to say, 'We are as big as Real Madrid.' But the reality is they are not quite there yet.
"Real Madrid are still the biggest club in football. They have won the most Champions Leagues, and they are well decorated in world football.
"For Trent, wanting a new challenge, he didn't go to Manchester United or one of your actual rivals in the Premier League. He went to another country.
"When you look at how he represented the football club, he did well enough as a player and gave his all. I was surprised it was that loud.
"I thought there would be a small group, but I didn't expect it to be as noticeable as that. When they're winning, they're gloating to a certain extent — you left them to go to us.
"But for me personally, I don't agree with it and I don't think it's right. He's not the first. Steve McManaman left Liverpool to go to Real Madrid; Michael Owen left Liverpool to go to Real Madrid. It happens in football, but I don't agree with that."
Any comparison to Owen's departure is unlikely to make Liverpool supporters feel any differently on Alexander-Arnold, and Jamie Carragher was far more understanding of fans being angry.
"I wasn't surprised, and I don't think Trent would have been surprised if I'm being totally honest," Carragher said on the same channel. "There is obviously a lot of strong feeling in the city around him moving.
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"I was a local boy playing for Liverpool and living in Liverpool, and in the city, we live and breathe football every single day. Even though I'm not a player anymore, all we talk about is Liverpool.
"So when one of your own moves on and makes a decision that 99 per cent of the supporters think 'I wouldn't do that', a local player for Liverpool has to embody those supporters.
"The one thing I would say about the reaction, he has always stated that, 'I'm just a supporter on the pitch.' He wanted to be captain and be a Liverpool legend.
"The feeling is really strong right now. I can totally understand the reaction, and I'm sure Trent can as well."
Liverpool.com says: Alexander-Arnold being jeered was inevitable, and as Carragher explained, the feelings from those in the home end are still raw for a reason. The player himself would have known what was coming.
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