Arne Slot admits Trent Alexander-Arnold doubt as Liverpool challenge put forward

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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCArne Slot admits he is unsure how Liverpool's supporters will greet Trent Alexander-Arnold's return when Real Madrid arrive on Tuesday nightArne Slot admits he is unsure how Liverpool's supporters will greet Trent Alexander-Arnold's return when Real Madrid arrive at Anfield for Tuesday's Champions League clash.Alexander-Arnold was set to leave as a free agent at the end of his Reds contract before the Spanish giants paid a £10m premium to sign him at the start of June in time for the Club World Cup in the United States.Many Liverpool fans viewed Alexander-Arnold's move as a defection at the time and the England international could be subjected to a hostile welcome upon his comeback.READ MORE: Virgil van Dijk responds to Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool return - 'I'm not going to say'READ MORE: Liverpool get injury boost for Real Madrid as Alexander Isak update emergesAlexander-Arnold was jeered by fans at Anfield just days after it was confirmed he would be leaving the club in early May and while Reds boss Slot says he will be happy to see his former player, he concedes he is uncertain how the Kop will respond to their ex-vice captain on the night.Slot said: “I can only tell you what kind of reception he gets from me; I have great memories of the player and the human being."He was my vice captain last season and I have memories of working with him which were only positive and have memories from watching him on television which were only positive as well – I can remember multiple great moments of his in a Liverpool shirt."He will get a warm welcome from me. Let's first wait and see if he is on the pitch tomorrow.

How the fans [respond] I have no clue how that's going to be but he gets a warm welcome from me, that's for sure."Conor Bradley is expected to start at right-back for the hosts against Xabi Alonso's La Liga leaders and Slot outlined what the Northern Ireland international must now do to take his game to the next level."Stay fit," Slot added. "Because he played very good in that game (against Real Madrid last season) for 80 minutes, unfortunately, and then he got a hamstring injury."So that's the biggest challenge until now.

We were just talking about Forian, we could say the same about Connor: be able to play at this intensity every three days without getting injured."And that has not been easy for him because he missed big parts of pre-season and he's been unlucky at times by the fact that when I have started him, we have been 1-0 down a few times and then I have had to make an attacking substitution and put Dom Szoboszlai there to the full-back position."But when we were a goal up, he played 90 minutes and that was against Everton. So I think he is progressing, he is getting fitter and fitter."He is showing the potential he has, but the main thing for him will be being able to play every three days without an injury and then I am sure, like Florian [Wirtz] and all the others we have who are adjusting at this moment in time to the programme and the fixture list, he will be fine because we have unbelievable talent in this group."