Trent Alexander-Arnold: “A lot of people expected us to get battered”
The right-back spoke to English TV after beating Manchester City in the Champions League.
Trent Alexander-Arnold spoke to English television in the aftermath of Real Madrid’s stunning 3-0 win over Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg, where a Fede Valverde hat-trick stole the show.
“It was a massive performance,” he told TNT Sports. “A lot of the noise when the draw happened, especially leading up to the game and with the results we’ve had, a lot of people expected us to get battered tonight.”
Referring to the depleted squad, Alexander-Arnold explained that “we showed the mentality” to win, and that “it doesn’t matter what injuries you’ve got, what players are out, this competition means a lot to the club and us as players, we understand that. We’ve absolutely executed the game-plan perfectly in the first half.”
“People said they were favourites going off results and how the two teams are playing," Trent added, “but in knockout football in the Champions League, anyone can beat anyone; we had confidence coming into the game, we knew our game-plan, we executed it, and we scored our goals ruthlessly.”
Winning the Champions League is all that matters for Real Madrid, and even having only joined in the summer, it’s something Alexander-Arnold is well aware of: “When you play for a club like this, there are no excuses and you have to win. We want to go all the way and win the competition.”
“A lot of people just expected us to get battered!”
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 11, 2026
Trent Alexander-Arnold reacts after Real Madrid’s big win in the first-leg over Manchester City 🗣️@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/ofGekLBG9E
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