TOBY'S KIND OF TOWN

TOBY ALDERWEIRELD sat down with us to reflect on what was a strange homecoming for him when we traveled to Belgium to face Royal Antwerp in October, as well as looking back on his journey so far in his second home of north London.

- Liam Carson

For Toby Alderweireld, his home city of Antwerp is, without question, the ‘best city in the world’. It is the place where the Belgian defender was born and raised, a place he could wax lyrical about with little prompting needed.

Located in the north east of Belgium, Antwerp sits on the mouth of the Scheldt – a river home to Europe’s second largest seaport and one that connects the city to the rest of the globe. It is industrious, tight-knit and friendly. It has history, stunning architecture, incredible cuisine and an ever-growing presence on the world’s fashion scene.

There is no place that makes Toby happier. However, when we travelled to Belgium back in October to take on Royal Antwerp, it was a rather strange homecoming for the 31-year-old.

With the continuing COVID-19 restrictions in England, the encounter across the North Sea was the first opportunity Toby had to return to Belgium for a long time. But it turned into a disappointing night all round.

At the Bosuilstadion, we tasted defeat against the Great Old as Antwerp’s Lior Refaelov scored the only goal of the game to give our hosts all three points. Toby, who has never played a competitive game in his hometown, remained an unused substitute. Meanwhile, despite being back home and not far away from his family and friends, who still reside in the city, the Belgian international was unable to see any of them, due to the ongoing Coronavirus restrictions.

“It was strange. Firstly, because I’m not used to that and secondly, it was strange because of these Coronavirus times,” our number four explained.