Trent Alexander-Arnold has admitted that watching Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane play against each other in the African Cup of Nations final was a "crazy experience".
The two superstar Liverpool forwards were pitched against each other in Sunday's final, and despite Mane missing a penalty for Senegal during regulation time he would go on to score the winning spot-kick in a winner-takes-all shoot-out against Egypt.
Mane's decisive conversation prevented club teammate Salah from even getting the opportunity to take a penalty himself and Alexander-Arnold admitted to having mixed feelings about the eventual outcome.
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In an interview with Liverpool's official website, he said: "I had to watch it. It was a crazy experience because it's very rare you have two teammates on the opposite end of the pitch.
"Obviously first of all you've got to feel for Mo, the journey that him and Egypt took to the final was a really tough one. They fought and fought but just at the very last hurdle they fell, but it's a credit to him and his nation. They will be proud of how far they got but obviously disappointed with not winning it.
"And then as for Sadio and Senegal, you've just got to smile at it. The whole story of the final, with Sadio missing a pen then at the end being the hero, it was the perfect story, it's nothing less than what he deserves.
"I can't say enough good words about Sadio. He is an outstanding player but first and foremost he is an amazing human, always smiling and the connection he has with the fans, with his country and all the celebrations, it was so befitting.
"He is so humble in his success and so determined every day to get better. His drive every day to become a better player and person is amazing to see first-hand.
"We were all proud of whoever won it, but someone had to lose at the end of the day."
In a wide-ranging interview, 23-year-old Alexander-Arnold also shared his excitement at the arrival of new signing Luis Diaz from Porto.
He also explained how the Portuguese and Spanish-speaking players in the side have been helping their new arrival along, following Diaz' impressive cameo performance against Cardiff City on Sunday.
Alexander-Arnold said: "It is always exciting when we get a new player in to see how he will fit in, how he plays, how he is in training, what he is about, but he's fit in straight away.
"His English isn't amazing but we've got the Brazilians and the Spanish lads who can speak to him and translate for him, so there's a lot of them that will do that and help him until the end of the season.
"It was an amazing half an hour he got, I think him and Diogo (Jota) had a little argument about whose assist it was today… I’m not quite sure, I didn't want to get involved and I stayed impartial to that!
"It was an amazing start. It summed up how we want to play: winning the ball back and creating straight away, getting the ball forward and he has hit the ground running so the fans have every reason to be excited about this."
