Trippier has helped Athletico to win all three league games he has played in

Kieran Trippier is back in form again, back in the England squad, and back smiling again. After a difficult season at Tottenham Hotspur, the right back felt that he had no future there under Mauricio Pochettino and leapt at the chance to work with Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid.

“I didn’t fall out of love with the game,” Trippier, 28, said yesterday. “It’s just you know when you’re not playing well, and you’re trying to get yourself out of it, it’s emotionally draining. Sometimes I was thinking, ‘God, I just wish the season was over.’ ”

“I heard rumours about them selling me and it’s not nice. That was playing on my mind for a few months. I tried to block it out. It wasn’t