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Trent Alexander-Arnold had to wait for his moment. More than six years, since his England debut, during tournaments when he was injured or underused. For three-and-a-half games, after the experiment – as it has been semi-officially termed – of starting with him in midfield was abandoned. For 115 minutes, until he was brought on against Switzerland. For the duration of a penalty shootout, until he was up last.
“You've got to be ready for the moment when it comes and I think the other day I epitomised that more than anything,” he said. Ready? He seemed to relish it. Sometimes penalties are described as ‘unstoppable’. Perhaps Alexander-Arnold’s actually was, dispatched past Yann Sommer with a blend of power and accuracy. It measured 125.6kmph (78mph), making it the hardest shot in the tournament so far.
He had the air of a man in complete control, and then one of wild abandon, booting the ball up in the air after it bounced back out of the net to him. What was shaping up as a demoralising Euro 2024, a tournament where he lost his place and could have been a scapegoat for failure, instead produced his moment.
It is destined to be replayed time and again; still more so if England win Euro 2024, but their penalty shootout triumphs have been sufficiently rare to give victory over Switzerland an unusual feel. And for Alexander-Arnold, whose England career, with his first 28 caps spread over six years and various positions, a tale of unrealised potential brought a high. Alexander-Arnold did not know when he was brought on that he was slated to take the fifth spot kick. “My role coming on was – don’t let it get to pens,” he explained. But it did. It came down to Alexander-Arnold: he has scored in shootouts for Liverpool before, but never as the fifth man.
“It’s positive pressure, if anything. It was exciting, I’ve never been in that position before to score a winning penalty, so it was a new experience for me.” That pressure could have been still greater: Bukayo Saka missed the fifth penalty in the Euro 2020 final and, like Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, was subjected to horrific racial abuse. Alexander-Arnold did not contemplate the chance of a repeat. “At the time, no one was even thinking about that,” he said. “We have a job to do. We are English, we represent our country, skin colour doesn’t matter.”
And Alexander-Arnold has had relatively few chances to represent his country. He has been Liverpool’s local hero, never the national one. He has had his moment in Liverpool colours; plenty, really. But the most famous was a set-piece that relied on his technique, his coolness under pressure. It was Jurgen Klopp’s favourite assist, the corner for Divock Origi to score the fourth goal against Barcelona in 2019. But if Klopp has trusted in Alexander-Arnold in a way Southgate has not often seemed to, the England manager put his destiny in Alexander-Arnold’s hands. “We get told the order,” he said. He neither volunteered nor refused. “There was no part of me that was nervous,” he said. “I enjoy those moments. I’m a player who enjoys being in big games, big moments and winning games.”
With five minutes of football in the knockout stages, he has had less taste of those. He had been seen more on the back of buses in Berlin than on a football pitch; his image has been plastered on them as part of an advertising campaign, but the fact he had the profile to model jeans did not stem from his status as a fringe figure for England over the last six years. It came from his excellence in a Liverpool shirt.
Which Southgate hoped he could replicate for England, but in a different role, with different teammates. Alexander-Arnold’s last contribution as a first choice in midfield was an extraordinary 60-yard pass to Bukayo Saka against Denmark. But then his number came up and the more industrious, less creative Conor Gallagher came on. In turn, he has since been displaced by Kobbie Mainoo.
“I think as it’s progressed, the manager needed different players in there and it has worked,” he said. “There's no negative vibes or energy around any of the decisions that get made. For me it’s all part and parcel of football. The game takes you on a journey. Of course, I would have liked to keep my position in the team and be starting every game, but the manager has made decisions and I respect his decisions. And they have worked: we are still in the competition.”
If it was a triumph of mentality that Alexander-Arnold recovered from losing his spot to score his spot kick. Yet his verdict on his time in midfield was instructive. If he did not fear taking a penalty, nor did he shrink from a different role. “It was enjoyable,” he said. “I enjoyed it, I enjoy playing football, I enjoy being on a football pitch. It was first and foremost the trust the manager has in me, I'm very grateful for that.” And now Southgate has a reason to be grateful to Alexander-Arnold.
