Bellingham sure Liverpool fans appreciate Alexander-Arnold despite Anfield boos
Trent Alexander-Arnold was loudly jeered during his cameo from the Real Madrid bench during Tuesday's Champions League game at Liverpool.
Jude Bellingham is sure Liverpool fans appreciate Trent Alexander-Arnold despite the jeers they directed his way during Tuesday's Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Liverpool won 1-0 at Anfield thanks to Alexis Mac Allister's second-half header.
While Thibaut Courtois pulled off eight saves at the other end, Madrid were kept quiet in attack, registering just two shots on target and only 0.45 expected goals.
Liverpool fans were able to compound Los Blancos' frustration when Alexander-Arnold – who left the Reds to join Madrid in June – came on to loud boos in the 81st minute, with the England international jeered every time he was in possession.
But Bellingham feels Alexander-Arnold should not take it personally.
"I heard it. It's one of those things in football. The fans booing isn't a reflection of how they feel about him," Bellingham told Amazon Prime.
"They are trying to give their team the edge, and throw him off a bit.
"I'm sure they appreciate what he did for the club. Obviously, he loves the club a lot, I know that from speaking to him.
"It's one of those things that can happen in football. When he won the league, and last season, they gave him a good send-off from what I saw.
"They were doing the fans' job, I suppose."
Madrid suffered their 10th defeat away to an English side in the Champions League, only losing more times on the road in Germany (13) – the Spanish giants have lost on four of their last six visits to England in the competition (W1 D1).
Only Bayern Munich (11), Juventus (nine) and AC Milan (seven) have inflicted more defeats on Madrid in the European Cup/Champions League than Liverpool (five – level with Inter and Manchester City).
"The scoreline reflects the game, they edged it," added Bellingham, who became the youngest player to make their 50th Champions League appearance.
"Second half, they brought more. They were dangerous from set-pieces and we didn't defend them well.
"First half we were good, we created good openings. But in the second half their momentum edged it.
"It felt like we wanted to force things too much. We gave the ball away too much towards the end.
"It's still really early in the Champions League campaign and we were worse off last season."
