Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham insists that Liverpool fans "appreciate" his teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold despite booing him.
Alexander-Arnold's first return to Anfield as a Real Madrid player ended in a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday night in the Champions League, a match settled by Alexis Mac Allister.
Alexander-Arnold was booed by sections of the home support, and a mural bearing his likeness was defaced prior to the match.
Bellingham told Amazon Prime about the boos for his new teammate: "I heard it. It's one of those things in football. The fans booing isn't a reflection of how they feel about him.
"They are trying to give their team the edge, and throw him off a bit.
"I'm sure they appreciate what he did for the club. Obviously he loves the club a lot, I know that from speaking to him.
"It's one of those things that can happen in football."
Asked if Liverpool fans might remember Alexander-Arnold more fondly in time, Bellingham said: "Perhaps so. When he won the league, and last season, they gave him a good send-off from what I saw.
"They were doing the fans' job, I suppose."
Madrid manager Xabi Alonso said Alexander-Arnold, who came off the bench in the 80th minute, was "ready" for the reaction from the Liverpool fans.
Liverpool sit sixth in the Champions League table with four matches played, level on nine points with Madrid, who are fifth.
"The scoreline reflects the game, they edged it," Bellingham said.
"Second half, they brought more. They were dangerous from set-pieces and we didn't defend them well.
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"First half we were good, we created good openings. But in the second half their momentum edged it.
"It felt like we wanted to force things too much. We gave the ball away too much towards the end.
"It's still really early in the Champions League campaign and we were worse off last season."
Bellingham set a record as the youngest player, at 22, to reach 50 appearances in the Champions League.