At St George’s Park in October 2024, Bellingham crouched behind a large “Happy birthday, Trent!” cardboard cutout and waited. When Alexander-Arnold walked in, Bellingham burst out from behind it, and the reaction was already going onto England’s own TikTok feed as the Liverpool defender turned 26.
The Real Madrid midfielder had, by his own admission, been sitting on it for a while.
“[I’ve been waiting] about 20 minutes. He just text me saying he’s coming,” Bellingham said in the clip.
Bukayo Saka wandered past and asked what was going on.
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“Trying to scare Trent. We’ve been planning it all morning,” Bellingham told him.
From Liverpool right-back to Madrid teammate
When the ambush happened, Alexander-Arnold was still Liverpool’s vice-captain. He joined Real Madrid in May 2025 on a contract that runs to 2031, making him and Bellingham club teammates as well as international ones.
The international part has been the missing piece. Alexander-Arnold’s last England cap came in June 2025, and Thomas Tuchel left him out of the summer’s World Cup squad. His recall this week, announced by the FA on 18 September alongside Cole Palmer, is his first Three Lions call-up in over a year.
Tuchel: ‘He needs to perform’
The manager did not frame the recall as a guarantee.
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“He needs to perform; it’s a competition. He was not with us at the World Cup; we trusted other players, and I stick with that decision,” Tuchel told reporters after naming the squad.
The 27-year-old has three weeks of camp to work his way up Tuchel’s depth chart before the four-game window closes on 6 October.
The Spain match is England’s opener in Group A3 of the 2026/27 Nations League. Kick-off at Wembley is at 7:45pm local time on Saturday, 26 September, and the match is sold out.
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