Trent Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool have slipped into a dizzying cycle of sin and redemption as the champions have fallen from grace this season.
After ignominy against Real Madrid last week, the prodigiously gifted right-back chose glory against Aston Villa at Anfield and banished the embarrassment of a losing home run that stretched back to last year.
Alexander-Arnold, dropped from Gareth Southgate’s England squad, then the hero of Liverpool’s away win at Arsenal, was the fall-guy in Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final defeat at Valdebebas, when he inadvertently guided a diving header into the path of Marco Asensio and allowed him to score Madrid’s second goal.