When, as expected, Trent Alexander-Arnold steps onto the Stade de France pitch in Paris on Saturday, the Liverpool right-back will be looking to capture his seventh major trophy with the Reds in just six seasons.
The 23-year-old has been part of a period of Anfield success under Jurgen Klopp that has seen the club compete for - and often win - silverware every season. But Alexander-Arnold, who grew up envious of Manchester United's success, has warned that this current Reds team and its supporters cannot afford to get complacent about their current lofty standing in both English and European football.
Speaking exclusively as a guest on blockasset.’s Block Party podcast, he said: “Growing up, I remember looking at Man United and thinking what it would be like to be them going for league titles every year, Champions League trophies every year. So to be able to do that now and be involved in it is something we can’t take for granted. I’ll use Man United as an example again, now, they’re probably thinking, ‘we shouldn’t have taken that sustained period of success for granted because now it seems like we’re far away from it’.
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“For us fans and players, we can’t get complacent and just get used to it, we have to really still enjoy it and keep our expectations where they need to be. We’ve got to enjoy the game for as long as we can because it won’t last forever. Sadly, at some point, everyone’s going to leave the club and it’ll be a lot different. Who knows when that will be? But football clubs change and evolve and managers and new players come in. So you’ve got to enjoy it as much as we can right now.”
Liverpool have already won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup this season and on Saturday they will have the chance to complete a unique cup treble against Real Madrid in the Champions League final, where they will be attempting to win the Reds' seventh European Cup. But Jurgen Klopp's side came within a point of winning the Premier League title last weekend, as they hunted down a never-before-achieved quadruple.
Despite the disappointment of just losing out to Manchester City, Alexander-Arnold believes that a repeat of the 2019 season could be on the cards and that is good news are far as their Champions League final prospects are concerned.
He said: “It happened to us last time when we won the Champions League, so maybe it’s a good omen that we miss out on the Premier League title on the final day of the season and then go and win the Champions League. That would be a nice pick me up! Man City win so many games, as do we, you kind of expect them to win and we did expect them to win [against Aston Villa]. With the emotion, you got the highs when you heard Villa scored and it’s 1-0 at half-time, but we still had our job to do. We did as much as we could and tried our best.
“We’re unbeaten this year, which is a special achievement, it’s been a special season, I can’t complain. If you finish the [domestic] season with two trophies, miss out on the Premier League by one point and win a Champions League final a few days later… at the start of the season I’d have bitten your hand off for that.”
Liverpool's 2019 Champions League success against Tottenham Hotspur arrived 12 months after defeat to Saturday's opponents Madrid in Kiev. The match is remembered for an outrageous overhead kick scored by Gareth Bale and two goalkeeping howlers from Reds stopper Loris Karius. But earlier in the contest Mohamed Salah was forced off injured after been brought to ground in an arm lock by Los Blancos centre-back Sergio Ramos.
The incident still grates with Salah and his teammates and Alexander-Arnold has made it clear that the current team is going all out to bury defeat in the Ukraine once and for all.
He added: "The fact we lost to Real Madrid in the 2018 final means everyone has that bit of motivation to get one back. Mo [Salah] obviously has a personal reason, getting injured in that final and not being able to play on, but for everyone, it’s a big game. When it comes down to it, the emotions have to be put aside, and they will be, Mo knows that.
"None of the lads have had a problem with Mo speaking out about how it’s personal and it’s revenge time. Whatever we need to use as motivation, we will, but when it’s time to get to work on Saturday, the emotions will be put aside and we’ve got 90 minutes of football to play, let’s go and win it.”
