Trent Alexander-Arnold has named Real Madrid teammate Federico Valverde ‘probably the most underrated footballer on the planet’ following his stunning hat-trick against Manchester City.
In the primary leg of their Champions League last 16 showdown, Los Blancos took a commanding step towards the quarter-finals of the competition with a 3-0 victory on the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
With Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe ruled out, Valverde took centre stage, scoring all three goals in what was a powerful performance from the Uruguay international.
The 27-year-old scored an injury time winner against Celta Vigo on the weekend and opened the scoring against Pep Guardiola’s side after 20 minutes, slotting home from a good angle after beating Nico O’Reilly and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
He doubled his haul seven minutes later before rounding off a hat-trick just before half-time, brilliantly flicking the ball over Marc Guehi before lashing home.
Valverde’s contribution to Real’s success has been invaluable but in a team of stars, is commonly ignored. After tonight’s performance, Alexander-Arnold believes he may now start getting the credit he deserves.
‘At the same time as a Liverpool player I admired him and I feel he’s undoubtedly probably the most underrated footballer on the planet,’ Alexander-Arnold told TNT Sports.
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‘When you’ve played with him you understands how much he gives to the team, he covers every blade of grass, he gives his all.
‘As a player, the perfect attribute you possibly can have is that your teammates can all the time count on you and he’s all the time there, he never lets us down.
‘Possibly people might start talking about him now but for a few years he has been in that top bracket of midfielders’
While Real have a commanding result in take to Manchester next week, Thibaut Courtois warned the tie is much from done.
‘Within the Etihad I’ve lost 4-3, lost 4-0 – the whole lot can occur there so we have now to be calm, Courtois said.
‘It’s a really nice result I’m not going to lie but we have now to maintain our foot on the ground.’
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