Home » Soccer » Robertson hits back at Oxlade-Chamberlain with ‘he’s no Xabi Alonso’ claim

Robertson hits back at Oxlade-Chamberlain with ‘he’s no Xabi Alonso’ claim

02/23/2021

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Andy Robertson has had the latest in the ‘war of words’ between him and Liverpool teammate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The two are close friends off the pitch and regularly aim jibes at each other in public interviews.

It started at the back end of last year, when Oxlade-Chamberlain suggested the Scotland international’s training skills were the worst he had ever seen.

The Reds midfielder used his lack of ability in the popular rondo drill as a stick to beat Robertson with.

Speaking in 2020, he said: "I say to him [Robertson] all the time, 'How can someone that is so bad in a box or a rondo, like the worst I have ever seen, be so good in a match?'

"You watch him in a rondo, and he's like he has never played football before. He gets in a match, and he's so reliable, it's a skill!"

Then a couple of months later, Oxlade-Chamberlain dished out a back-handed compliment to his Liverpool teammate, claiming his standing as the best left-back in the world comes as a surprise to him.

“I'm saying he's up there,” he told Sky Sports last month. “And honestly, for a man with such bad technique and footballing ability I don't know how it's possible.

“I've played against him a good few times and it's horrible. With his touch and everything… I don't know – he makes it work for him.”

And now, Robertson has had his right of reply, jokingly comparing Oxlade-Chamberlain to ex-Reds midfield legend Xabi Alonso.

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“Ox has it in for me, to be honest,” he said, in an interview with Soccer AM. “Yesterday was probably my best performance in a rondo that I’ve ever done.

“I walked off there thinking I was a man. But unfortunately I don’t get that feeling a lot!

“I’m usually running about in the middle like a headless chicken. I’m not the best at them, I’ll give him that.

“He’s not exactly Xabi Alonso at them either, to be fair!”