Rashford knows all about Arnold punishment after Real Madrid decision

Former Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold was left out of Real Madrid's starting XI at the weekend for disciplinary reasons

Trent Alexander-Arnold was dropped to the Real Madrid bench at the weekend due to lateness. This is a flaw Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford has also had to deal with in Spain.

Having swapped Liverpool for the Bernabeu last year, Alexander-Arnold has been a regular starter of late. Before being rested against Elche last week, he had started five consecutive La Liga fixtures.

The Englishman has also been seen to great effect in the Champions League and it was perhaps expected he'd be in from the start as his team hosted Atletico Madrid on Sunday. However, boss Alvaro Arbeloa opted to drop Alexander-Arnold to the bench.

Reports from Spain claim that his absence from the starting XI was due to turning up late to a training session last week and the manager wanted to send a message. Alexander-Arnold's international team-mate Rashford has experienced such retribution during his loan spell with Barcelona.

Spanish outlets reported over the weekend that Alexander-Arnold's tardiness to one of the final training sessions before the Madrid derby resulted in the disciplinary action. Manager Arbeloa supposedly wanted to maintain order within the squad.

Dani Carvajal took Alexander-Arnold's place at right back for what was a chaotic match. It ended 3-2, with the English defender entering proceedings from the bench in the 64th minute and setting up Vinicius Junior's 73rd-minute winner.

His absence from the off for Madrid came in the same week that the 27-year-old was omitted from Thomas Tuchel's 35-man England squad ahead of friendlies against Uruguay and Japan. United loanee Rashford was included in this squad and he too has been disciplined for lateness in Spain.

Having caused a stir behind the scenes under Ruben Amorim at United, Rashford was loaned to Barcelona in July. A few months after his arrival, he was dropped to the bench for a match against Getafe after he reportedly arrived late to a team briefing.

Manager Hansi Flick opted to leave the Englishman out of his starting XI just days after he scored his first two goals for the club against Newcastle United in the Champions League.

In a similar fashion to Alexander-Arnold, Rashford did eventually come off the bench and assisted a goal. Though Premier League icon Alan Shearer admitted at the time that Flick was correct to punish the on-loan United forward.

"Rashford can't be unprofessional, it's not right," Shearer told Betfair. "We know that if Rashford is ready and if his attitude is right then there's a player in there. He was sensational against Newcastle.

"The second finish in particular was amazing. But you can't be unprofessional. Why should everyone hang around just for you? Why should everyone else be on time but you be late? It's not right. It doesn't matter if you're two minutes late or 20 minutes late. You're late and your team-mates have to wait for you. Why should they all be on time and you not?"

Alexander-Arnold's side next visit Mallorca in La Liga before the first leg of a crunch Champions League clash with Bayern Munich. Rashford, who continues to thrive at Barcelona, has league and European matches against Atletico next up on the agenda.