Rio Ferdinand lauds Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold

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Rio Ferdinand jumped to the defence of Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold ahead of last night’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

The Reds drew 0-0 at Anfield to crash out of the competition and Jurgen Klopp’s team now face a fight to return to Europe’s elite tournament next season.

Ahead of the game on the BT Sport coverage, the talk turned towards Liverpool’s defender. Of late, he has come under pressure but the ex-Manchester United man implied some of it is untoward.

Alexander-Arnold was recently dropped from the England reckoning and must now work hard to get his place back.

Ferdinand is clearly a fan of the player and sung his praises during last night’s television coverage.

He told BT Sport: “It shows you how far he’s come over the last couple of years that everyone is honing in on this kid’s performances.

“Yes, he’s got some parts of his game defensively that need to be improved; but what 21/22-year-old doesn’t? It’s normal.

The kid’s an immense talent. What I do notice is he’s got character. He’s under huge pressure and he comes up with the winner at Anfield recently where they’ve not won for weeks.”

TBR View: Criticism is untoward and Ferdinand knows his stuff

Liverpool fans won’t like it but the former central defender won the lot during his time as a player with Manchester United.

That probably qualifies him to pass judgement on defenders and he’s right to stick up for Alexander-Arnold.

At 22 he already has 171 Liverpool appearances to his name and that deserves immense credit.

The £75,000-a-week player hasn’t become bad overnight and this run is merely a blip in his long career.

Ferdinand made some great points and his words were justified during the game as Alexander-Arnold once again proved his worth during the goalless draw.