England's Trent Alexander-Arnold caught cheating at Euro 2024 but fans love it

Trent Alexander-Arnold left fans laughing when he was spotted cheating in the England camp ahead of this weekend’s Euro 2024 final. The 25-year-old is unlikely to start against Spain, with Bukayo Saka and Kieran Trippier set to feature in the wing-back roles once again.

England’s players have been enjoying some downtime at their base camp in Blankenhain following their dramatic semi-final triumph over the Netherlands. On every episode of Lions’ Den, a YouTube series offering an insight behind the scenes, they have been playing pool against each other with an interesting twist.

Players are grouped into teams of two and instructed to pick out 15 balls, all of which carry a squad number between one and 26. The numbers on the balls successfully potted are tallied up to give a final score, which is then added to a league table.

On Friday, it was the turn of Alexander-Arnold as he joined forces with Aaron Ramsdale in a bid to topple the leading score of 145. They ended up getting 159 points but eagle-eyed viewers spotted the Liverpool defender cheating to add a few extras.

While the balls were being counted up, Alexander-Arnold sneakily grabbed two from the table which had not been potted and made out as if he had collected them from the pockets. It ended up being crucial to their winning score, which toppled the previous benchmark by just 14 points.

Bukayo Saka, who had set the previous high score, was called over by host Josh Denzel who informed him that he was no longer at the top of the leaderboard. Nobody noticed the blatant cheating by Alexander-Arnold with the exception of a few fans, who found it hilarious that he seemed to get away with it.

@krismohan1820 commented: “Saka robbed! Trent blatantly cheating at the end!” @Bharani20 added: “Saw Trent picking one from the corner and then another and adding 17 plus 21 equalling 38 points to win. Saka, don’t worry, you will be getting your prize today.”

“Trent cheating at the end is the funniest thing ever,” said @magnusbrix8650, while @cillaa2496 joked: “Bukayo, I’m sorry to tell you that your brothers from another mother, brother in arms, friends that say they have your back, are rotten cheats.”

Spirits are clearly high in the English camp as they prepare to face Spain for a shot at European glory on Sunday evening. They will be the slight underdogs but there is no doubt that Gareth Southgate’s men will give it everything, three years after they were losing finalists on home soil.