Trent Alexander-Arnold says he is looking forward to pitting his wits against Vinicius Junior once more when Liverpool meet Real Madrid in the Champions League final on Saturday.
Brazil international Vinicius has enjoyed his best campaign at Real Madrid to date since joining from Flamengo in 2018, scoring 21 goals to help the 13-time European Cup winners to another Champions League showpiece and a La Liga title.
Vinicius was outstanding in the first leg of the two teams' last-16 meeting last year as the Spaniards won 3-1 in Spain before advancing after a goalless draw at Anfield. Alexander-Arnold is relishing the opportunity of playing against the wideman once more, though.
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"Absolutely," said Alexander-Arnold when asked if he was looking forward to coming up against the Brazil winger. "The whole occasion I’m looking forward to. When you are playing against Real Madrid you expect to come up against these world-class players and everywhere they have world-class players.
"There will be battles all over the pitch. But we have a gameplan and plans how we are going to deal with all the threats they pose. Vinicius is an outstanding player and has shown that this season with his goals, assists and threat.
"Vinicius is an exciting player to watch. But as a team we have a job to do, as individuals and a collective, to go out and win. The individual battles will be part of that, but the team wins at the end of the day."
Saturday's game is Liverpool's 63rd and final fixture of a season that has seen them play every match possible. Hopes of an unprecedented quadruple were dashed when they Manchester City came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at home to Aston Villa last Sunday to win the Premier League by one point.
Alexander-Arnold, who is appearing in his third Champions League final at the age of just 23, says everyone within the Reds squad has forgotten about the disappointment of last weekend, however, and are instead looking ahead to the glamorous showdown with Carlo Ancelotti's men at the Stade de France.
He added: "We have put [Sunday] behind us. We have the experience this season to focus on the competition we have ahead of us. We have played in four competitions and got all the way in all of them. We’ve found it useful to forget about the others and focus on the one we are playing in. This is the Champions League final.
"Last week was disappointing to take at the time but you put that behind you, it takes a day or two to get over and you have a Champions League final to look forward to and what better way to get over it than come here to Paris, an amazing venue and play in the nest club competition in the world.
"A Champions League final brings different added pressures, it’s an occasion, it’s not just a league game, and that adds to it no matter who you are playing against, and throw Real Madrid into that mix and that makes it even bigger.
"It is two powerhouses of European football who are going for big, big trophies every season. This one means a lot to both sets of fans. When you play Real Madrid in the Champions League final it has to be the biggest game of the season."
