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Ahead of facing Liverpool for the first time since he signed for Real Madrid, Trent Alexander-Arnold has opened up on the first conversation that he had with another former Reds star, Xabi Alonso.
The Spaniard, now the Bernabeu side's head coach, moved to Real Madrid this summer from Bayer Leverkusen, where he was hugely successful. Alexander-Arnold went to La Liga at the same time, a few weeks before his Liverpool contract expired.
"I remember the Istanbul game vividly," Alexander-Arnold told Amazon Prime. "Whether that is a natural memory or because I have watched it back so many times, I'm not sure.
"I am able to remember how Xabi played and what a player he was. I said to him in the first conversation that we had, that watching him and Steven Gerrard when I was growing up, made me realize that passing was an art.
"When they passed the ball, it sounded different. You can hear a good pass.
"It is the sound when the ball strikes the ball. It sounds differently. It is hard to describe. If you know, you know.
"He was an idol of mine. He was someone I looked up to and I practiced a lot of the passing he would do.
"Even now in training, he shows off his passing. He could still play! The way he sees the game is in a pure form."
So far this season, Alonso has rotated his right-backs. Alexander-Arnold has only just come back from injury, and didn't come off the bench in either of Real Madrid's last two league games (Barcelona and Valencia).
Federico Valverde could start at full-back at Anfield on Tuesday, with Dani Carvajal sidelined. Alexander-Arnold is likely to be named among the substitutes.
Jude Bellingham is likely to start the game and Alexander-Arnold also spoke about his influence helping decide to move to Real Madrid.
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"We'd meet up at England camps and everyone would want to know what it was like behind the scenes (at Real Madrid)," Alexander-Arnold said.
"He said it was incredible, and he’d never seen anything like it. The drive from the whole club, to win and the expectation to win.
"He talked so highly of the club, and I’d made my mind up at the end of the day, I needed a change for me. I wanted a new challenge on and off the pitch."
Liverpool.com says: Alexander-Arnold, if he plays, will draw a big reaction from the Anfield crowd on Tuesday. Choosing to leave the Reds was a bold call, and it always felt inevitable that Real Madrid would draw Liverpool just a few months in.
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