Trent Alexander-Arnold has heaped praise on Liverpool's mega-money summer signing Darwin Nunez following his outstanding debut showing against Manchester City in the 3-1 Community Shield victory on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds lay down their first marker of the new season as they emphatically beat Pep Guardiola's reigning Premier League champions with an impressive showing at Leicester's King Power stadium.
After starting on the bench, Nunez was introduced to the game with the contest well and truly in the balance as Julian Alvarez had drawn Pep Guardiola's men level shortly after the start of the second half, cancelling out Alexander-Arnold's opener.
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His impact was sizeable as he won the penalty after his goal-bound header was blocked by Rubian Dias, handing Mohamed Salah the opportunity to open his account for the new campaign as he effortlessly converted his spot-kick from 12 yards.
Deep into added time the Uruguayan opened his account for the Reds as he squeezed his header past Ederson after Andy Robertson's delicate knockdown.
And following that remarkable outing, Alexander-Arnold has lauded the impact of the Reds' latest attacking acquisition.
"It’s got to be up there (with one of the best debuts). He won the pen, scored the goal, had a one-on-one," said the Reds' No.66, speaking to ITV. "He looks lively, very lively, he’s someone who’s been brought in to score goals and he’s proved he can do that today
"[He's] a top player, young player, you can tell he’s come in to learn, he’s bonded with the lads, everyone’s gone on well with him. He’s come in, worked hard, got his head down so far and knows his positions not just going to be there because we bought him this summer, he’s got to earn it and he’s come on with a point to prove and scored the goal to clinch it and won the pen also."
Klopp's men were pushed to the limit last season as they took their bid for an unprecedented quadruple into the final week of the campaign but ultimately fell short in their quest for glory as they were beaten to the title by Manchester City and defeated by Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Paris.
For the England international, though, Saturday's victory over the Citizens represents the perfect start to the new season ahead of the Premier League opener against Fulham next weekend.
"Who knows what’ll happen over the course of the season," Alexander-Arnold added. "What we’ll have to do is prepare as well as we have done this pre-season.
"Our aim is to be as fit as possible, push from the first kick of the season to the very last, like we did last year, and win as many trophies along the way. For us, it’s the perfect start but it’s a long season and we hope to win more along the way.
"This one [trophy] means a lot, to be honest. It’s the third time we’ve been in it and we haven’t been able to win it so far. That was our motivation going into it, we worked hard in pre-season this was our aim. Ours started today so it was important to start off on the right foot."
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