73 days later… Trent sends strong message to Real Madrid

From Help to Here Comes the Sun. Trent is finally emerging from a long, dark tunnel. Ready to shine – and to make others shine. To be Trent again. Last night, after so long on the sidelines, his troubles felt far away. Today, there is a buzz in the air. He was solid at the back, brave on the ball and, above all, threading laser-guided passes to split defensive lines. A defender who is much more than that. Someone with a velvet touch in his boot. The player everyone had been waiting for. The Englishman has stepped out of hiding – and he has no intention of going back.

His situation had been delicate. He had missed 21 of the team’s 36 games through injury. There were two setbacks: a tear in his left hamstring against Marseille, which ruled him out for seven games, and a rupture of the rectus femoris in his left quadriceps at San Mamés, costing him 14 more. Until last night, Trent had played just 16% of the available minutes this season – 511 of 3,150 (now 571 of 3,240). Only 16%. A fleeting glimpse of a star dimmed by injury. He had started just six of the 12 games he had featured in. Now seven, after yesterday. A different kind of night.

The return

It had been 73 days since Trent last appeared in a starting lineup. Exactly since San Mamés, where he suffered that injury – on a night when he had been dazzling. He delivered his first – and until yesterday, only – assist of the season: a superb ball to Kylian Mbappé, who made no mistake. His form had been trending upward until that fateful crack. More than two months out. But last night, he looked back to full strength. The 15-minute cameo at Mestalla and the signs in training at Valdebebas hinted at it. He confirmed it.

By the numbers

Arbeloa gave him exactly an hour. In that time, he registered five recoveries, completed 91% of his passes playing out from the back, and delivered four crosses – including the one that broke the deadlock. An exquisite ball from nearly 38 yards (35 meters), floated behind the defense for Gonzalo to make it 1-0. His second assist of the campaign. He left the field to applause, a statement performance written in capital letters.

“We all know he’s a player with tremendous quality and… with the candy he served me today, it was very hard to miss,” said Gonzalo in the mixed zone, smiling, grateful.

“I’m not discovering him now!”

“I’m not going to say he surprised me,” Arbeloa said after the win over Real Sociedad, “but from working with him and talking to him, he strikes me as a very, very intelligent player. Someone who understands the game extremely well and quickly grasps what we want from him and where we can get the best out of him. He’s not the typical fullback who stays wide all the time – he can play inside a lot. In our system, where we want players to move and interchange positions, it’s a blessing to have someone like that.”

He continued: “We talked today about how, with Gonzalo in the box, he could look for crossing situations. And then there are set pieces, and the way he launches counterattacks after a turnover. He’s a great player,” he added with a laugh. “I’m not discovering him now! I’m very happy to have him with us, to see him keep adding minutes, building rhythm and gradually showing his best version.”

A fiery duel ahead

At times, Trent’s connection with the Bernabéu felt like love at first sight on Valentine’s Day. A clean slate. The sense that what glitters like a star truly is one. Then Dani Carvajal stepped on – gaining minutes, confidence and throwing down the gauntlet. Competing is in his DNA. Always competing.

“Trent, like Carvajal, is coming off a long layoff and won’t be ready in the short term to play every three days, so we’ll need both of them,” Arbeloa said.

It is a duel that promises sparks. Nothing will come easily for Trent. But he knows the formula: be the player he was last night – eight days a week. Maintain that level. One thing is now certain: the Englishman has stepped out of hiding.