Trent Alexander-Arnold Reflects on Liverpool Exit and Boos at Anfield
Trent Alexander-Arnold admits the boos still sting. Fourteen months after swapping Anfield for the Bernabéu, the former Liverpool right-back says the backlash from some supporters has not faded – online or inside the stadium.
The 27-year-old, now at Real Madrid and left out of England’s World Cup squad, told the Mirror that the reaction to his exit from the club he grew up supporting still “hurts”, even as he continues to follow every Liverpool game from Spain.
“I watch every Liverpool game,” he said, making it clear the club remains part of him. His boyhood side, he insists, will always have a “place in my heart”.
Booed at Anfield, backed in person
When Real Madrid returned to Anfield in November for a Champions League tie, Alexander-Arnold was met with a wall of noise – and not the kind he once fed off. He was booed throughout Real’s 1-0 defeat, a hostile soundtrack to an emotional night.
“The booing and disappointment from Liverpool supporters is something I'm absolutely able to shoulder. I can understand it, in my own way,” he said.
But he draws a sharp line between what he hears in the stadium and reads on his phone, and what he experiences when he quietly comes back to Merseyside to see his family.
“Not a single interaction I've had in person reflects the sort of stuff you get online or via social media,” he said.
The dissonance is striking. At Anfield, jeers. On social media, abuse that he says has “crossed the line”. On the streets of his home city? A very different tone.
“I choose to keep those things away from me because they don't feel real,” he explained. He calls online abuse a “sad part of life” in 2026, and says he has learned to separate that noise from what Liverpool, and Liverpool fans, mean to him.
“I can rationalise that by knowing it's not representative of a football club I love, LFC, and it's not representative of my home city.
This isn't me saying everyone in Liverpool is fine with me leaving the club – of course they aren't. But that's very different from the stuff that goes beyond the football.
“It hurts because of how much I've put into the club over the course of 20 years and the sacrifices I made for the club during that period.”
Madrid challenges and England heartbreak
Alexander-Arnold’s first season in Spain was stop-start. Between adaptation, competition for places and form, he featured in 35 of Real Madrid's 62 matches across all competitions. Enough to be involved, not enough to feel untouchable.
He still went into the summer believing he had done enough to convince Thomas Tuchel to take him to the World Cup. He made no plans. He waited.
The call finally came to his home in Madrid. It was not the one he wanted.
“I'll be honest, I was full of hope,” he said. “When I put the phone down, I was properly gutted.
“I hope the coaching staff would expect and understand that I was angry.”
The last of his 34 England caps came as a substitute in a 1-0 win over Andorra in June 2025. Since then, he has watched from the outside, his place in the national setup suddenly fragile under Tuchel.
Yet he refuses to let anyone question his desire.
“He [Tuchel] wants players who are desperate to play for England. I am one of those,” he insisted.
Alexander-Arnold watched England throughout the tournament, not as a detached observer but as someone who still sees himself as part of that squad, even without a seat on the plane.
“Until I retire, I'm still an England player, whether I'm selected or not,” he said. “I'm always available if and when the manager needs me. There's no bigger honour.”
Fuel for the new season
The disappointment, he says, will not drag him down. It will drive him.
He plans to turn the anger of that phone call, the boos at Anfield and the bile online into energy for the campaign ahead – both at club and international level.
“I want to use it as fuel to get back into England squads and then back in an England shirt. That's an aim of mine and I hope to achieve it,” he said.
He still wants understanding from Liverpool fans. He still wants trust from England’s manager. The next few months will show whether he can win both back on the pitch.
