Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold offered a blunt prediction for the Champions League final featuring treble-chasing Manchester City and Inter Milan.
With Liverpool’s season over, right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold spent the weekend at the F1 Grand Prix in Barcelona.
As a Red Bull athlete, Alexander-Arnold was supporting the eponymous Formula 1 team, which is enjoying a dominant season.
The energy drink brand registered another emphatic victory on Sunday as Max Verstappen led home Lewis Hamilton by more than 24 seconds, extending his lead at the top of the championship table to 53 points.
Around this time some four years ago, Alexander-Arnold was also in Spain, celebrating winning Liverpool’s sixth Champions League trophy after a 2-0 win over Tottenham in Madrid.
And in 2022, the Reds made it to the final once more, this time suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid. They won’t have a chance to put that right just yet, though, after Los Blancos eliminated them in the round of 16 stages earlier this year.
Saturday’s final in Istanbul instead pits Manchester City, conquerors of Real Madrid in the semis, against surprise package Inter Milan.
Manchester City are two-thirds of the way to becoming the first team since Manchester United in 1999 to win the treble, having added the FA Cup to their Premier League title by beating arch-rival 2-1 at Wembley on Saturday.
And ahead of the race in Barcelona, Alexander-Arnold was asked whether he backed Manchester City to complete the feat.
“I think Man City is always favorites for everything,” he bluntly told Sky Sports.
In reaction to Alexander-Arnold’s comment,
Liverpool.com says: In a sense, Alexander-Arnold’s prediction illustrates the extent of the task facing Liverpool next season.
Manchester City are perhaps the greatest team English football have seen in the Premier League era, and so most expect it to comfortably beat Inter at the weekend.
The Italian outfit finished third in Serie A, but it wound up some 18 points off the pace of champion Napoli.
And even if Manchester City can land their first Champions League at the weekend, they certainly won’t stand still in the summer.
You’d imagine Liverpool will need perfection in the transfer market, and on the pitch too, if they are to have any chance of overhauling Pep Guardiola’s team next season.
The Reds will be keenly aware of that, having lost out on the title twice as Manchester City somehow bettered their 97 and 92-point efforts.
In Another News,
Khephren Thuram sparks Liverpool move intrigue after Alexis Mac Allister transfer news
Liverpool moved closer to signing Alexis Mac Allister and a social media post has caught the eye.
Khephren Thuram liked a social media post detailing Alexis Mac Allister’s proposed move to Liverpool.
The Reds are hopeful of finalizing a deal for the Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder before he jets off on international duty with World Cup holders Argentina.
With the transfer window set to open on June 14, it appears Jurgen Klopp is about to land one of his main targets after plans to acquire Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham hit the rocks.
On Instagram, social media account 433 posted the news that Mac Allister is ready to depart the AMEX Stadium for Anfield, according to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano.
And interestingly, OGC Nice midfielder Thuram, user K_Thuram, was among those to like the post. It comes amid speculation surrounding interest from Liverpool in the France international.
Thuram’s future is under the microscope with L’Equipe last week reporting that the Reds were pressing to sign the 22-year-old. They claimed that Liverpool had been in talks for weeks and opened negotiations with Nice over the midfielder’s signing, with a meeting already said to have taken place with his representatives.
In his breakout season in Ligue 1, Thuram scored a place in the Team of the Year and was handed a first senior call-up to Didier Deschamps’ France side.
With the acceleration of the deal for Mac Allister, the Reds will continue to search for midfield additions following the exit of James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
