Carvajal's battle with Alexander-Arnold could spur Madrid to glory
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Dani Carvajal's quest to become the greatest footballer in the 61-year history of the European Cup and UEFA Champions League begins this week.
Not Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Clarence Seedorf, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Karim Benzema, Johan Cruyff, Gerd Müller, Sergio Ramos or Paolo Maldini.
No, Dani Carvajal; the locally born kid with the warrior nature, a cop father and the youth team "Mirlo" -- the nickname given to promising Real Madrid youth prospects -- who Florentino Pérez chose to lay the first brick of Madrid's Valdebebas Sports City (Training Complex) 21 years ago.
Carvajal is already tied with two of Los Blancos' finest-ever players -- Galician winger Paco Gento and Luka Modric -- as the only men ever to lift this famous, iconic trophy six times.
However, only Gento (1956-1966) and Carvajal (2014-2024) have been named in the starting XI in six European Cup/Champions League finals.
Already monstrous achievements.
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The last time Carvajal won the Champions League, he scored against Borussia Dortmund in the Wembley final, was man of the match, and told me: "To win my sixth Champions League is unimaginable.
The first winners of the new Champions League, controversially to say the least given their conviction for domestic match-rigging, were the self-same Marseille.
In that same year of his birth, Real Madrid weren't even in this competition (they only played UEFA Cup or Cup Winner's Cup football between 1991 and 1995 ... and no European football at all in 1996-97!)
When young Carvajal was born, Los Blancos had six European Cup wins.
Or, at least, he should have.
By comparison, Trent Alexander-Arnold has played in three Champions League finals over the last seven years, winning one, in Madrid vs.
A sub in two of the last three LaLiga matches and, when Madrid were down to 10 men at Real Sociedad on Saturday, with 33-year-old Carvajal still nominally working his way back to full fitness and low risk after his brutal knee injury, Alexander-Arnold was only given eight minutes.
Those two Champions League final defeats to Madrid hurt, but inspired too.
The last time I interviewed Alexander-Arnold he told me: "Especially in finals, it's not about performances.
"You either win or you lose.