Trent Alexander-Arnold expresses that the booing at Anfield was ‘unpleasant’ during Liverpool’s draw with Arsenal in the Premier League.

Andy Robertson has expressed his disappointment over the booing of Trent Alexander-Arnold by sections of the Anfield crowd during Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal. The left-back admitted it was “not nice” to witness the reaction when Alexander-Arnold was introduced as a second-half substitute.

The backdrop to this controversy is Alexander-Arnold’s recent announcement that he will leave Liverpool, his boyhood club, in the summer, with strong speculation linking him to a move to Real Madrid. This decision has understandably ruffled the feathers of some Liverpool supporters, who made their feelings known at Anfield.

“Disappointed to lose a good friend, he’s an amazing player and an amazing person,” Robertson told Sky Sports. “He has pushed me through and made me a better player. His legacy will always be there; he’s done so much for this club. He will be missed for me as one of my best friends in the game. We’ve done it all together. He’s taken me to levels I never knew existed.”

Robertson acknowledged the difficulty of the situation for Alexander-Arnold, stating, “It hasn’t been an easy one for Trent but he has made the decision. It was not nice to see him get booed but you can’t tell people how to feel. That’s how I feel about it and I’m not going to tell anyone else how to feel about it.”

Liverpool manager Arne Slot also weighed in on the matter, noting the mixed reception Alexander-Arnold received. “The good thing about living in Europe is everyone can have their opinion, like in Liverpool, so there were people who were happy with him, there were people that were not so happy with him,” he said. “They clapped for him, some booed. Everybody is allowed their opinion and towards the end, more and more people got more positive.”

On his decision to bring Alexander-Arnold off the bench, Slot added, “For me, it is simple, I owe it to the fans to play a team that can win the match. Trent showed why I brought him in because he had two or three incredible balls into the box.”

He continued, “For the fans, they can always have the reaction they want, but I will always back the players I lead and the ones that wear the red shirt. I will back them no matter what. First of all, they sang for Steven Gerrard, which is a nice thing to do, and then for Conor Bradley, but when Trent took a free-kick, more people were positive about him and hoping that he would score than people booing him.”

Slot concluded, “It would not be fair to focus only on the Liverpool fans that booed. If they want to, it’s fine, but there were a lot of people that were really positive about him as well.”