Having taken our esteemed editor’s instruction to be on ‘Trentwatch’ all too literally, here is literally everything the Liverpool turncoat did (and didn’t do) on debut for Real Madrid in their Club World Cup opener against Al Hilal. It wasn’t great, to be honest.
Any pass, unless otherwise stated, was between five and 15 yards. *There weren’t many besides*
0:50 Left-foot control, left-foot pass to Dean Huijsen before stepping into midfield. Oh yeah, this is in detail.
1:50 Fails to track left winger and captain Salem Al-Dawsari as Al Hilal break. Familiar.
3:55 Left-foot control, right-foot pass to Huijsen. Fair warning: copied and pasted this a few times.
9:40 Not marking anyone as Al-Dawsari volleys wide at the back post. Again, familiar.
10:33 Right-foot control, right-foot pass to Raul Asencio from midfield. Plenty of invertedness throughout. Spoiler: to little effect.
12:32 Right-foot control, right-foot pass to Rodrygo. Again, plenty of copy and pasting.
13:00 Left-foot control, right-foot switch over Vinicius Junior’s head as Al Hilal players decry his failure to put the ball out with a player down injured.
15:21 Intercepts pass forward.
15:56 Al-Dawsari runs ball out of play under his pressure/he gets himself in an uncharacteristic muddle as Trent watches him f*** up.
16:45 Right-foot control before overhitting a lofted pass down the line for Rodrygo out for a goal kick.
17:50 Dribbles past one player before being outmuscled by and then fouling another.
18:25 Loses the ball before being beaten by Al-Dawsari, who plays in Renan Lodi down his side to score. Goal ruled out for offside. Lucky boy.
19:36 Heads cross away.
21:20 Stands around watching teammates work to win the ball back in his right-back position as Al Hilal knock it around them.
24:10 Throw-in to best bud Jude Bellingham.
25:00 Caught up the pitch and jogs back as Kalidou Koulibaly steps forward and plays in Al-Dawsari, whose shot is deflected wide.
26:25 Stands still as Hassan Tambakti jumps over him to head a corner kick wide. Commentator describes it as a “mismatch”. TAA height: 1.80m. Tambakti height: 1.82m
27:19 Right-foot control, right-foot touch, right foot touch, right-foot pass to Valverde.
27:22 Left-foot control, right-foot pass to Huijsen.
28:10 Left-foot control, right-foot pass to Huijsen. A great relationship building.
28:33 Attempted pass over the defence for Rodrgyo goes straight to Koulibaly.
31:50 Throw-in to Raul Asencio after drinks break.
32:20 Makes run beyond Rodrygo to open up space for Brazilian to come inside and hit a shot over the bar.
33:25 Intercepts Al-Dawsari pass before fizzing a pass into midfield for Fran Garcia, who ends up scoring the opening goal after a quick break. A pre-pre-pre-pre-assist, if you will. We’re being flippant. The first bit of proper Trent.
35:40 Left-foot control before turning away from Renan Lodi with a right-foot touch and then hitting a lofted pass down the line with his right foot to Garcia.
36:40 Right-foot control, right-foot pass to Rodrygo.
36:47 Left-foot control, right-foot pass to Asensio.
39:50 Drinks water after Asencio pulls Marcos Leonardo’s shirt to concede a penalty. Rubs sweaty face with shirt.
41:56 Right-foot control, right-foot touch, right-foot pass to Valverde.
42:30 Blocks Al-Dawsari shot on edge of the box.
43:26 Commentator corrected by co-commentator Michael Brown for calling him ‘Alexander-Arnold’ and not ‘Trent’ as is now displayed on the back of his shirt. “We’ll be hearing much more about that” apparently. Look forward to that.
44:02 Left-foot control, right-foot touch, right-foot touch, right-foot touch, right-foot pass into Valverde
44:30 One-touch pass to Valverde.
44:50 Right-foot control, right-foot pass to Rodrygo.
46:20 Al-Dawsari cuts inside him and plays a one-two with Sergei Milinkovic-Savic before curling shot just wide. Some player this Al-Dawsari, by the way.
49:50 Right-foot control, right-foot touch, right-foot touch, right-foot touch, right-foot pass to Rodrygo.
HALF TIME
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45:20 Right-foot control, right-foot pass to half-time sub Arda Guler.
45:40 Right-foot control, right-foot switch to Vinicius, just kept in play by Brazilian.
47:15 Right-foot control, right-foot pass to Rodrygo.
47:26 Left-foot control, right-foot witch to Vinicius. Already much better in the second half.
47:45 Right-foot control, right-foot pass for Rodrygo.
47:53 First-time right-footed cross for Vinicius from right corer of the box overhit.
49:50 Neat right-foot touch to nick ball past Ruben Neves in midfield before playing the ball wide with his left for Rodrygo.
50:00 First-time cross/pass into the box just behind the runners.
54:45 Right-foot control, right-foot touch, right-foot pass to Rodrgyo.
55:01 Right-foot control, right-foot touch, right-foot pass to Rodrgyo.
55:23 Right-foot control and poor right-foot cross easily cut out by Koulibaly.
56:33 One-touch pass to Guler
57:21 Watches on with envy as Guler takes Madrid’s first attacking free-kick.
57:50 Very, very appears to forget what defending is as the last man while Al-Dawsari runs past him only for Madrid striker Garcia to save the day by getting a challenge in.
60:15 Right-foot control, right-foot pass to Rodrgyo.
61:04 Right-foot control, right-foot touch, left-foot cross overhit.
61:55 Wins ball back in midfield.
61:57 One-touch right-foot pass for Bellingham. Ooh, friend.
62:31 Jogging back as Renan Lodi runs past him to receive a pass down the wing. Looks absolutely f***ed.
64:23 Substituted. He is f***ed.