Jurgen Klopp has dismissed suggestions Trent Alexander-Arnold may have been affected by his frustrating World Cup – as he saluted a “crazy” achievement from Andy Robertson.
Alexander-Arnold was restricted to a solitary 33-minute appearance from the bench as England reached the quarter-finals of the recent tournament in Qatar.
The right-back was then unavailable for Liverpool’s Carabao Cup exit to Manchester City on Thursday through illness but returned with an impressive display in the 3-1 Premier League win at Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
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And Klopp said: “I think everything is fine with Trent. I don't think he expected to play in all games in the World Cup with all the players Gareth (Southgate) has available but he was there for his country and contributed as well as he could.
“He didn't like not playing but he was not especially down. I think the situation is pretty clear and that is fine.
“He came back and got ill, which was not cool. It was why he could not play against Manchester City, but now he is available. But for today it was especially hard as well.”
Alexander-Arnold was replaced for the final 11 minutes as he continues to recover from the virus that Klopp revealed also affected skipper Jordan Henderson.
“Hendo has a cold as well, and that is why you could see for 50 or 60 minutes he was great and then somebody pulled the plug,” said the Reds boss. “When we had to change it there, thank God Naby (Keita) and Stefan (Bajcetic) did their job.
“Joe Gomez came on for Trent and did an exceptional job on that side, so yes, Naby was top and Ben (Doak)… it was a nice contribution from Ben too! So it was a great night.
“We know in moments we had luck and we needed Ali but I think Aston Villa was lucky as well that we didn't finish off some situations as well. We wanted the three points that is clear and we deserved it.”
Alexander-Arnold played a superb fifth-minute pass with the outside of his right foot to allow Andy Robertson to set up Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s opener, and in doing so surpass Leighton Baines as the defender with the most assists in Premier League history.
And when told of the achievement, Klopp said: “Crazy! What makes him special? We don't have enough time! I am not too much in the stats but it came to my mind about the guy we bought from Hull.
“We knew he was an exceptional talent but personality, character makes you the player you can be and he obviously has a really good basis for that. He is a great talent, offensively.
“Defensively he was not that good (when he joined) and I remember he came in my office after half-a-year because he didn't play a lot and I explained and I said I told him a couple of times what he had to change and everything would be fine.
“Now he is a proper defender and still sets up goals. I have so many balls in my mind when he misses a player and if he had been a bit more accurate imagine the number (of assists) would be even more crazy. It's a great number and it is really special.”
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