Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones were on opposite sides in the Champions League as Real Madrid beat Inter Milan, but both ex-Liverpool stars were lambasted

Spanish and Italian media tore into Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones after the two ex-Liverpool stars reunited in the Champions League. Alexander-Arnold's Real Madrid beat Jones' new side Inter Milan 2-1 on Tuesday evening.

The pair were born less than five miles apart and Alexander-Arnold joined the Reds' academy aged six, while Jones signed at nine. Both climbed up the ranks into the first team and became part of the squad that won multiple trophies in the following years.

However, Alexander-Arnold departed for Real Madrid on a free transfer in the summer of 2025 and Jones waved goodbye to his boyhood club last month, signing for Inter Milan in a £30million deal.

On Tuesday evening, Alexander-Arnold, positioned in midfield, came up against Jones, but media from Spain and Italy were far from impressed with either player.

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Jones endured a disastrous opening to the match, giving away possession in the build-up to Kylian Mbappe handing Real the lead against the flow of play. Jones wasn't entirely at fault, with Yann Aurel Bisseck sluggish in responding to the threat on the edge of the penalty area.

The Football Italia website savagely characterised the incident as a "brain f***" while Spanish publication AS accused Jones of "falling asleep" as he surrendered the ball.

Italy's La Stampa adopted a slightly more sympathetic tone towards Jones, emphasising the danger he created in attack, noting: "The Nerazzurri put in a strong first-half performance, coming close to scoring several times - through Jones and [Andy] Diouf - but were punished by two individual errors. A misunderstanding between Jones and Bisseck led to Mbappe's goal in the 14th minute."

Meanwhile, the Spanish media showed little sympathy for Alexander-Arnold. Radio Marca said: "The night was already off to a bad start because of that forced experiment, prompted by the yellow cards, of placing Trent Alexander-Arnold in a position where he contributed almost nothing. They thanked him and took a souvenir photo because he's unlikely to play as a midfielder again."

The Managing Madrid website handed him a 5/10 rating and commented: "Being deployed in midfield wasn't his decision, and the role did him few favours. Nevertheless, he looked lost defensively and had little influence in possession."

Former Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart also took a dig at Alexander-Arnold, revealing he "does not enjoy watching" him. Analysing a passage of play on Ziggo Sport, he remarked: "He's standing in front of the defence, which isn't his position.

"It looks like he's not fit or is suffering from something. Normally, these balls would be a piece of cake for him. I find him slow and making poor decisions on the ball.

"Just look at how he's shuffling along at the back here. It looks like he has a thumbtack in his shoe. He's limping a bit, every ball goes wrong.

"I think he's playing very poorly. I would substitute him. When they started cheering for a goal, it looked like he was tired. Alexander-Arnold really needed to catch his breath."