Trent Alexander-Arnold's brutal comeback to James Maddison dig

Trent Alexander-Arnold has continued the (friendly) war of words with James Maddison, after the Tottenham star's replay dig.

The two players are part of the England squad for the fixtures against Australia and Italy during this international break and Maddison posted a picture of himself alongside Liverpool's vice-caption at St. George's Park with the caption 'Still asking for a replay', referencing Spurs infamous win over the Reds last month.

Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the 2023/24 season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, conceding a stoppage-time own goal from Joel Matip to give the hosts a 2-1 victory.

The Reds were down to nine men for much of the second half, having seen Curtis Jones and then Diogo Jota sent off in contentious circumstances.

However, the most controversial moment of the game came in the first half when Luis Diaz's legitimate goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside by referee Simon Hooper, with VAR Darren England failing to communicate that the decision needed to be overturned.

The fallout from that incident led to an apology from refereeing body the PGMOL, while audio from the VAR room was made public to show just how the error occurred.

Such was the unprecedented nature of the blunder, Jurgen Klopp even admitted he believed a replay of the game would be appropriate – though he conceded it was unlikely to happen.

It was Klopp's comment that led to Maddison's replay jibe on England duty, which the midfielder later called 'tongue-in-cheek banter'.

However, asked about his teammate's post by Channel 4, in the build up to the Australia clash, Alexander-Arnold didn't let Maddison off the hook.

"Nah," Alexander-Arnold said when asked about Maddison's caption. "No, he was asking me to teach him how to put a free-kick in the top corner.

"But, I told him, I'd just shown him the video when I scored at Leicester last year and they got relegated."

Maddison was part of the Leicester team that was condemned to relegation just two weeks after their defeat to Liverpool last season.

The 26-year-old former Norwich star completed his £40m move to Spurs this summer after the Foxes dropped down to the Championship.

Despite the rather spiky banter, Alexander-Arnold has insisted he and his team are already over the VAR controversy.

Speaking about the incident and its fallout before Liverpool's recent win over Union Saint-Gilloise, he said: "I think decisions are decisions, sometimes they go for you and sometimes they go against you. What happened on the weekend for us as players and as a team is very disappointing and frustrating. But, like I say, it's passed us. There is nothing we can do as players now; the game has gone.

"We have just got to move forward and put it past us. VAR is a system that is in place, and it is something we can't control as players. We've got to put our trust in the referees and the officials that use it and hope that they get the decisions right, and at times they don't and at times they do. We've just got to hope that they get the decisions right as much as possible."