The build-up to Liverpool's Champions League meeting with Real Madrid on Tuesday has unsurprisingly focused on Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is returning to Anfield less than six months after bidding an emotional farewell. The right-back is not certain to start for the visitors - nor is it clear how he will be received by the hosts, given the acrimonious nature of his exit. What every Red would agree on, though, is that Alexander-Arnold is missed on Merseyside, with both Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong having struggled to fill the considerable void he left behind in Arne Slot's side. Indeed, multi-talented midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai has arguably been Liverpool's top performer at right-back this season!Still, while the pre-match narrative has been all about the fit-again Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate is likely to have a far more important role to play in the outcome of the game, with the defender under pressure to prove his worth - to both teams...When Madrid last visited Anfield a year ago, speculation was already rife that Alexander-Arnold was bound for Santiago Bernabeu. It's an eerily similar story this time around, with Konate being heavily linked with a move to Madrid when his contract expires next summer.The big difference between the two situations, though, is that whereas Liverpool fans were desperate for Alexander-Arnold to sign a new deal, there is nothing like the same clamour for the club to pull out all the stops to convince Konate to stay. The supporters would like him to extend his contract, of course. As well as starring in last season's Premier League title triumph, Konate is also a very likeable character who is considered a very positive presence, on and off the pitch.Liverpool would also be loath to lose another player to Madrid - and this time for absolutely nothing after they managed to recoup €10 million (£8m/$11m) for Alexander-Arnold so he could represent Madrid at the Club World Cup. However, while missing out on a massive transfer fee would undoubtedly hit hard, there is a growing feeling at Anfield that Konate would be no great loss from a purely sporting perspective.Indeed, one could easily argue that Liverpool are already paying a very heavy price for failing to pre-emptively replace Konate before the close of the summer transfer window.Liverpool's owners, Fenway Sports Group, were rightly lauded for loosening the purse strings during the summer and spending more than £400m ($525m) on strengthening the first-team squad. However, the champions are now counting the cost of failing to get a deal for Marc Guehi over the line long before Crystal Palace pulled the plug on the transfer on deadline day.Remember, by that stage, Konate's form had already become a colossal cause for concern, with the Frenchman turning in two disastrous displays in the Premier League games against Bournemouth and Newcastle. As Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports after Konate's horror-show at St. James Park, "He has been all over the place [this season]. He was not at the races at all tonight. I absolutely shudder to think where Liverpool would be without Virgil van Dijk."Konate, of course, has always argued that he doesn't get the credit he deserves because of Van Dijk's greatness, so it was no surprise to see him take aim at his critics after Liverpool kept consecutive clean sheets against Arsenal and Burnley."The problem is some of you forget too quickly," Konate wrote on social media on September 16, in what was a clear reference to his contribution to the 2024-25 title triumph. The problem for Konate, though, is that we're no longer talking about a couple of dodgy displays at the very start of the season. It's now November and he's performing more erratically than ever before.Konate has always been error-prone, particularly in possession, but there was enough evidence last season to suggest that he was close to attaining the kind of dependability one expects from a truly world-class defender. However, he's become an absolute liability on the ball this season - and it's hurting Liverpool, quite literally in the case of Alisson Becker, who got injured against Galatasaray while pulling off a save that he was called upon to make after a calamitous Konate giveaway in midfield.As any top manager would, Slot leapt to Konate's defence, pointing out that he wasn't the only Red making stupid mistakes. He is making more than most, though, and what's really worrying is that he's also being outmuscled and outpaced on a regular basis this season.For example, in the 2-1 loss at Crystal Palace that sparked Liverpool's rotten run of six losses in seven games, Konate had no answer to Jean-Phillipe Mateta's physicality, while he was left trailing in Kevin Schade’s wake during the defeat at Brentford."Konate in the first half didn't know what he was doing," Michael Owen told SPORTbible after the Selhurst Park setback. "And I can't say that it was because of rustiness or tiredness because we've already seen one or two performances like that from him this season."Konate looked more like his old self in Saturday's morale-boosting win over Aston Villa but, once again, his distribution was far from flawless, while he was also beaten far too easily on a couple of occasions. It’s, therefore, telling that the most recent reports to have come out of Madrid claim that not everyone at the club is sold on the idea of signing Konate - particularly as his France team-mate Dayot Upamecano is also set to become a free agent at the end of the season.Remember, Madrid's dream centre-back signing was William Saliba, so his decision to extend his stay at Arsenal came as a bitter blow to Los Blancos, who are not accustomed to missing out on their top transfer targets.Konate has many attributes and is a formidable figure when fully focused, but he is just nowhere near as consistent, composed or quick as his compatriot Saliba, which is why Madrid are said to be considering a number of other potential candidates to play alongside Dean Huijsen in their new-look defence next season.It will, thus, be fascinating to see how he performs against his prospective new employers at Anfield. Earlier in the season, former Liverpool striker John Aldridge claimed Konate was playing as if his mind was no longer on the job, with the obvious implication being that the defender's head had been turned by the prospect of a move to Madrid - in much the same way Alexander-Arnold was accused of 'checking out' mentally after an atrocious outing against Manchester United in January.It's certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that Konate has, at the very least, been distracted by the ongoing contract talks and resulting uncertainty over his future, even if he made light of the situation last month when he quipped that Kylian Mbappe was calling him "every two hours" to join him at the Bernabeu. There's also the possibility that his nose has been put out of joint by Liverpool's move for Guehi, which could well be resurrected in January, given Konate's calamitous performances over the past two months.Still, neither focus nor motivation are likely to be issues for him at Anfield on Tuesday. All eyes will inevitably be trained on Alexander-Arnold, but this really is a crucial game in Konate's career, because if he reminds Liverpool why he's worth keeping, he'll also convince Madrid he's still worth signing.