Liverpool and Arsenal played out an enthralling 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday.
However, Liverpool’s victory lap was marred by fans expressing anger at departing right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Kop booed when the announcer called Alexander-Arnold’s name before the game kicked off, but they saved the worst for when he came off the bench.
Alexander-Arnold will leave the Reds for Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer and drew a hostile reception from the fans who once cheered his name.
The fan ire will have Liverpool manager Arne Slot considering whether to leave Alexander-Arnold out for their remaining Premier League fixtures. He could be an unnecessary distraction.
Hypocritical Liverpool fans are overreacting
Some fans view his decision to leave as a betrayal. But is that fair or even rational? For all their talk of class and heritage, Liverpool fans repeatedly showed neither.
Why is the Kop booing one of their own – a player born in the city, raised in the academy, and a key part of their recent successes, because he chose to leave on his terms?
This is not passion. It is petulance.
Alexander-Arnold has delivered 23 goals and 92 assists in 353 appearances. The 26-year-old cannot be erased from their history.
He is not the first player to walk away on a free, and he will not be the last. Liverpool fans need to grow up.
Those fans would jump ship from their current workplace no matter the emotional attachment if a lucrative opportunity came their way. But they want Alexander-Arnold to stay out of loyalty.
The same Liverpool fans will think fondly of players like Joel Matip, forgetting he ran his contract down elsewhere before joining the Reds.
Did they think Schalke 04 fans were excited when their academy graduate Matip left them in 2016? Did they forget so easily how the German club fought to keep the defender?
When it suited them, the moral outrage was nowhere to be found. Liverpool fans are being hypocritical. Silence would have been an even more significant gesture than this.
The backlash says more about the supporters than it does about Alexander-Arnold. No career should be shackled by guilt for seeking new adventures.
Perhaps Liverpool fans, in time, will realise that turning their backs on one of their own is a slight on their so-called ‘You’ll never walk alone’ mantra.
