Alexander-Arnold explains how Liverpool kept Sane quiet

Trent Alexander-Arnold credited his team-mates with helping him to keep Manchester City winger Leroy Sane quiet in Liverpool’s stunning Champions League win on Wednesday.

Goals from Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane gave Jurgen Klopp’s side a 3-0 lead in the first leg of the quarter-final at Anfield, with Pep Guardiola paying the price for a tactical switch to City’s starting line-up that saw him replace Raheem Sterling with Ilkay Gundogan.

Alexander-Arnold received criticism for his performances against Manchester United and Crystal Palace in recent weeks, but he was named the Reds’ man of the match for his role in denying the visitors an away goal.

The 19-year-old right-back restricted Sane’s involvement from wide on the left, but confessed he could not have done so alone.

“Sane is a top-quality player. He’s probably one of the best wingers in the league, if not the world. He was a really tough opponent,” Alexander-Arnold told Liverpool’s official website.

Your @Carlsberg Man of the Match – with 68% of the vote – @trentaa98 !

Watch every touch of Trent’s dynamic display in #LIVMCI https://t.co/9xLce727wo pic.twitter.com/f5onCmvRXx

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 5, 2018

“It goes down to the likes of Ox, Gini [Georginio Wijnaldum] when he came on, Mo and Hendo [Jordan Henderson] for helping me.

“If you’re left one-on-one with such a talented winger you’re going to get caught out. Thanks to the lads I mentioned, I wasn’t left one-on-one too often and I always had cover around me. That’s what helped me.

“The clean sheet is just as important as the three goals we scored.

“Taking a clean sheet there next week is important, knowing if we keep another clean sheet we’re through to the semi-finals. That will be in our minds. We’ll go there, we’ll have a game plan for the away leg and we’ll try to get through to the semis.”

Just as they did in January’s 4-3 win over City in the Premier League – the champions-elect’s only top-flight defeat this season – Liverpool made the most of a spell in which Guardiola’s side found their relentless pressing impossible to cope with.

On how Klopp instructed his players to approach the match, Alexander-Arnold said: “To make sure we were on the front foot from the very start, to make sure we got after them and tried to win the ball back high and put them under as much pressure as possible.

“The two games we’ve had at Anfield, the 4-3 and this one, that’s what we’ve done best – put them under pressure – and they couldn’t really cope with it on both occasions.

“That’s what we pointed out during the week: how we got the win in January. We used that to our advantage and tried to do the same again.”