News Desk
\nLondon
\nNeither Trent Alexander-Arnold nor Andrew Robertson have Lionel Messi\u2019s star power, but the buccaneering Liverpool defenders could play just as vital a role as the Barcelona captain in their mouth-watering Champions League semi-final.
\nVirgil van Dijk has hogged the spotlight among Liverpool\u2019s defenders with a superb campaign that earned the Dutch centre-back the Professional Footballers\u2019 Association player of the year award.
\nAhead of Wednesday\u2019s first leg against Messi\u2019s Barca, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold have emerged as essential contributors to Liverpool\u2019s bid for Champions League glory.
\nWith 24 assists between them in all competitions, England right-back Alexander-Arnold and Scotland left-back Robertson are pivotal figures in Jurgen Klopp\u2019s game-plan.
\nRobertson\u2019s 11 assists have equalled the Premier League record for a defender and Alexander-Arnold is not far behind, with nine, making Liverpool\u2019s full-backs are as much wingers as defenders.
\nIt has become the most demanding, tactically significant position in the Liverpool team.
\nWithout Robertson, 25, doing the job of two players with his lung-bursting runs up and down the flanks, Senegal winger Sadio Mane would not have the freedom to move infield, from where he has scored 24 goals this term.
\nMohamed Salah\u2019s licence to roam from the wing is only possible because there is less need to track back defensively while Alexander-Arnold, 20, tirelessly covers every blade of grass on the right.
\nKlopp\u2019s bold system has reaped rich rewards as rivals struggle to find a way to turn off the supply line fuelled by Robertson and Alexander-Arnold.
\nIn producing perfectly weighted crosses for Mane\u2019s double and a Van Dijk goal, Alexander-Arnold became the youngest Premier League player to create three goals in a single fixture when Liverpool thrashed Watford in February.
\nThen, when Robertson supplied Roberto Firmino with Liverpool\u2019s opening goal against Tottenham recently, Alexander-Arnold matched him by crossing for Salah\u2019s header that led to Toby Alderweireld\u2019s decisive late own goal.
\nThey are the kind of key contributions that have become commonplace this season and Robertson admits the pair\u2019s friendly rivalry is spurring them to ever greater heights.
\n\u201cI always try and go forward. Sometimes my passes don\u2019t find people. But I do try and create. If I get two assists, I expect Trent to get three,\u201d Robertson said with a smile. \u201cWe all need to chip in with goals and assists. It\u2019s not just the front three. It\u2019s not just the defence that keeps clean sheets, either. It\u2019s a team game.\u201d
\nLiverpool\u2019s unlikely heroes have taken contrasting routes to the top.
\nLiverpool-born Alexander-Arnold is the soft-spoken prodigy who still lived with his mum at the start of this season, such has been the rapid nature of his rise from the club\u2019s academy
\nRobertson started his career in obscurity at Queen\u2019s Park and Dundee United before joining Liverpool from Hull for \u00a38 million in 2017 \u2014 a deal that Klopp says came at a time when \u201cthere weren\u2019t 500 clubs asking about him\u201d.
\nNow comes the acid test of the duo against Barcelona in the Camp Nou.
\nInspired by the sublime Messi, Barca have scored more than 130 goals in all competitions already this term and wrapped up the Spanish title at the weekend.
\nBut, while he acknowledges the threat posed by Messi, Luis Suarez and company, Robertson believes Liverpool should stick to their guns.
\n\u201cWe know we\u2019ll have our hands full defensively but we all defend as a team and we attack as a team. If me and Trent have time to go forward, we will do it. It\u2019s not going to stop us,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cWe know that we can create goals and chances, so why change that? But look, we will learn from the game and move from that and see how it pans out. It\u2019s a challenge we all look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Desk London Neither Trent Alexander-Arnold nor Andrew Robertson have Lionel Messi\u2019s star power, but the buccaneering Liverpool defenders could play just as vital a role as the Barcelona captain in their mouth-watering Champions League semi-final. Virgil van Dijk has hogged the spotlight among Liverpool\u2019s defenders with a superb campaign that earned the Dutch centre-back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n