“Not as serious as it seemed” – Alonso reveals extent of Trent Alexander-Arnold injury

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s hamstring injury was “not as serious as it seemed” after he came off injured five minutes into his Champions League debut for Real Madrid.

Alexander-Arnold injured his thigh when in possession. Unchallenged, the Englishman clutched his left hamstring and dropped to the ground to wait for the medical staff.

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Real Madrid manager, Xabi Alonso, said: “It’s not as bad as we thought, we will see in the coming days. Otherwise, with Carvajal’s suspension, we’ll have to rely on [Federico] Valverde as a right-back for the next two Champions League matches.”

Dani Carvajal replaced Alexander-Arnold but his night was also cut short in the 72^nd minute after he headbutted Geronimo Rulli. Carvajal was shown a straight red card after a VAR review.

When asked about Carvajal’s red card, Valverde said: “I’m not going to comment on that because we’re still in the heat of the moment and we could say anything. We need to think calmly, watch the replays and then reflect.”

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Despite Marseille’s impressive defensive performance, Real Madrid eventually went ahead through Kylian Mbappe. The match winner said: “It was a bit of a tough night because we went down to 10 men for a while, but we brought that Champions League spirit to the Bernabéu.”

Mbappe scored twice from the spot in the hosts 2-1 victory over Marseille. The second penalty was controversial though, as Facundo Medina was deemed to have unfairly handled the ball.

Mbappe admitted he could “understand why some people say it isn’t” a penalty. He added: “It’s difficult to find any logic in it…but if a penalty is awarded, I’ll take it and score, that’s all there is to it.”

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Written by Isabelle Newnham