Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has hailed the ingenuity behind Trent Alexander-Arnold's savvy free-kick routine against Leicester City.
Alexander-Arnold applied the gloss to a polished performance in the Midlands as he whipped a free-kick past Daniel Iversen to add to Curtis Jones' first-half brace and secure a vital three points for Jurgen Klopp's Champions League-chasing side.
For the 24-year-old, it was the latest impressive performance of his late-season revival as he dominated Youri Tielemans, James Maddison and Wilfred Ndidi in the centre of the park.
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But the defender's crowning moment came on 71 minutes when Jordan Henderson was brought down on the edge of the Leicester penalty area, leaving himself and Mohamed Salah the opportunity to plot a shrewd free-kick routine to bend the ball past the Foxes' shot-stopper. The pair had previously performed a similar routine during a 2-0 victory at Chelsea in September 2019.
Speaking after the game, Schmeichel hailed the craft of Salah and Alexander-Arnold to devise such a plan that left Iversen "nowhere near" the full-back's thunderous effort.
“This is unbelievable,” said Schmeichel, analysing Alexander-Arnold's goal on Premier League productions. “We have been warned because he has done this before (against Chelsea). These free-kicks are the worst to face as a goalkeeper when they move the ball because then you have to move.
“We look at Iversen. He’s got nowhere near it, don’t get me wrong. But he looks far away because he takes a little step (to his right). For that, you have to adjust your position, for that touch. It’s very, very clever the way they did that, the way they as a team lined up the free-kick up, so they forced Iversen to be even further to where the ball actually goes in because they put two men next to the wall.
“I mean you have no chance. But this is so good – this is how you take a free kick. It was fantastic. For me, probably man of the match. Scoring that. He was absolutely outstanding.”
Later asked about the strategy behind the routine, Alexander-Arnold revealed that Klopp had urged him and Salah to try the free-kick skit once again after a few near misses this season.
"I think he [Klopp] will take credit, but I’m the one who had to hit the ball!” said Alexander-Arnold, speaking to Sky Sports. “No, he spoke to us and said let’s try it again! We haven’t done that in a while, I think we took them by surprise. It was a well-worked goal.”
Victory at the King Power Stadium ensured Liverpool will be playing in at least the Europa League next season, with a place in the Champions League not yet out of their sights with games against Aston Villa and Southampton to come and trailing fourth-placed Manchester United by one point.
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