Trent Alexander-Arnold is hopeful of earning a recall to the England squad this week – though admitted he hasn’t spoken to Thomas Tuchel “yet”.
After an injury-disrupted start to his first season at Real Madrid, the right-back has been back to his best in recent weeks and helped the club to a 5-1 aggregate win over Manchester City to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Alexander-Arnold was omitted from Tuchel’s squad for England’s World Cup qualifiers last August amid a competitive fight for full-back places, but could be in line for a return ahead of friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.
Tuchel will name his squad on Friday and the Real Madrid defender’s chances of inclusion have been boosted by an injury to Chelsea captain Reece James.
Alexander-Arnold is very much optimistic that the call from the England manager will come to give him an opportunity to impress ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
““I haven’t spoken to him… yet,” the 27-year-old said to Amazon Prime Video. “Obviously the squad gets announced this week so hopefully I’m in that and able to go and represent my country, which is always an honour.”
Alexander-Arnold has thrived recently under the coaching of Alvaro Arbeloa, a fellow former Liverpool right-back who replaced Xabi Alonso at the Bernabeu earlier in the season.
After surviving a flurry of early Manchester City chances, Vinicius Jr struck twice for Real Madrid as they converted a 3-0 first-leg lead into a comfortable success to set up a likely quarter-final against Bayern Munich.
"It's the most important time of the season,” Alexander-Arnold explained. “These are the important games, every one is kind of a cup final. There's an expectation at Real Madrid to go far in the Champions League and win it. It's embedded in the identity of the club. We thrive off the expectation and it brings the best out of us.
"It's not only big players, young players are stepping up as well like Thiago Pitarch who put in incredible performances last week and tonight. But at a club like this, big players step up on the big stage. Last week Fede [Valverde] put in one of the best performances anyone will ever see, tonight Vini [Jr] shows he's world class again.
"Everybody put in a shift, everybody defended well. Over the two legs, we deserved to go through."
