Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham on Trent Alexander-Arnold boos – ‘It doesn’t reflect their true feelings’ | OneFootball

Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham has claimed that Liverpool fans who booed former player Trent Alexander-Arnold were doing so in order to put him off, rather than really holding any ill feeling towards him. The 26-year-old made the decision to leave the Reds after two decades at his boyhood club.

Ahead of the game, a mural of Alexander-Arnold was defaced, calling him a ‘rat’, and when he went out to warm up, was met with whistles from the home crowd. Coming on for the final 10 minutes of the match, Anfield booed every touch he had.

“Yeah I don’t think that it reflects their true feelings for him, I think it’s more the crowd trying to do their part and give their side the edge, and throw him off. I’m sure they’re appreciative of what he’s done for the club, and I know he loves the club a lot, I know that from just speaking with him. But you know, these things can happen in football,” Bellingham told CBS Sports.

“I think when he won the league last year,  they gave him a good send off from what I saw, so it’s just one of those things that can happen.”

‘We controlled them well in the first half’ – Bellingham

On the game itself, Bellingham told Amazon Prime (via MD) that he felt his side controlled Liverpool in the first half.

“I think the scoreline reflects the game. In the second half, they created more chances, and we didn’t defend their set pieces well. We controlled them well in the first half, but not so much in the second.”

Image via EFE

‘We can’t let this ruin the good moment we’re in’

Bellingham also called on his side not to let the defeat impact their good form, with 13 victories from their 15 games so far.

“When they scored in the second half, we wanted to force things a lot and we lost a lot of balls, we gave them many more opportunities when we were more vulnerable. Last year we were much worse off; we can’t let this ruin the good moment we’re in.”

The reading in Spain of the game was largely negative, with many feeling Thibaut Courtois’ saves avoided a heavy defeat. Yet manager Xabi Alonso, like Bellingham, felt the game was far more even than Courtois’ performance suggested.