'Not nice' to hear Alexander-Arnold booed by Liverpool fans: Robertson

LIVERPOOL - Trent Alexander-Arnold was booed by Liverpool fans during Sunday's 2-2 draw against Arsenal as Andrew Robertson admitted it was "not nice" to hear the jeers for his team-mate in his first appearance since announcing he will leave the champions at the end of this season.

Liverpool right-back Alexander-Arnold confirmed his impending exit on Monday ahead of a widely-expected move to Real Madrid.

In his first game in front of Liverpool's fans at Anfield since his decision to quit his boyhood club, the Merseyside-born England star was subjected to audible jeers as he was introduced as a 67th-minute substitute against Arsenal.

There were also some cheers for the 26-year-old product of Liverpool's youth academy, who has won two Premier League titles and the Champions League with the Reds.

But he was booed several times while in possession in the second half as Arsenal fought back from two goals down despite finishing with 10 men after Mikel Merino's late dismissal.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot had said prior to the game he would not tell supporters how they should react to the player's announcement.

Slot dropped Alexander-Arnold from his line-up as he looked to the future by starting with 21-year-old Conor Bradley.

The highly-rated Northern Irishman is viewed as the natural successor to Alexander-Arnold and the crowd sang his name during the game.

"There's a lot of emotion around it," Robertson said of the taunts for Alexander-Arnold.

"For Trent, it's not been an easy one. Of course it's not. But he's made the decision.

"It's not nice to see a friend get booed, it wasn't nice. But as I said, we can't tell people how to act.

"I can't tell you how I feel about it, I'm extremely proud of him. I love him as a player, I love him as a friend. He will be missed as one of my best friends in the game."

'THERE'S A LOT OF ILL-FEELING'

Slot opted to toe a delicate line between supporting Alexander-Arnold and not angering Liverpool's fans.

"There were people who were not so happy, there were people who were happy for him. They clapped for him. A few of them booed," he said.

"I will always back my players, the ones I lead and wear the red shirt.

"It would not be fair to focus only on the Liverpool fans that booed. If they want to, it's fine but there were a lot of people that were really positive about him as well."

Slot said he would have no qualms about selecting Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool's final two games at Brighton and against Crystal Palace at Anfield.

"The thing I consider is I want to win a game of football and if we think we can win with Trent, I owe it to his team-mates and to the fans, because they hired me to win as many games of football as possible," Slot said.

"And if I think there's a better chance of winning with Trent, then I will pick him.

"If I think it's a distraction or whatever can happen for us not to play a good game of football, then I might make another decision."

Alexander-Arnold is the latest Liverpool star to leave for Madrid after Steve McManaman and Michael Owen in 1999 and 2004 respectively.

Neither have been able to completely heal the wounds caused by their defections to the Bernabeu.

But former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher echoed Robertson's frustration with the reaction of Reds fans to Alexander-Arnold.

"That's the story of the game. That's what we will be talking about after the game, and the back pages of every newspaper tomorrow," he said.

"I'm surprised how many. When you're in a crowd of 60,000, there's no doubt there's a lot of unhappy people at Liverpool about the situation, and I've said that's understandable.

"But for me, I don't believe that any player putting that red shirt on, going out to play for the club and trying to win them points or win them trophies should be booed."