Liverpool will take a one-goal advantage to Fulham in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final and one player who starred last night was Conor Bradley.
All eyes were on the young Northern Irish international as he was tasked with replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The 20-year-old took to Instagram to celebrate his side’s win as they had to come from behind at Anfield yesterday.
Jurgen Klopp could have ended up being incredibly frustrated given Liverpool dominated possession but failed to create too many chances in the first half.
Bernd Leno was under a lot more pressure after the break and although they needed plenty of luck to equalise, their winner was a very well-worked goal.
Bradley stars for Liverpool against Fulham
Marco Silva and his Fulham side must be sick of playing at Anfield.
In the league, they scored three times but four of the best goals you’ll see all season meant they headed back to Craven Cottage empty-handed.
A Trent Alexander-Arnold double, a curling Wataru Endo goal and Alexis Mac Allister’s unbelievable strike from range decided the contest last time.
Liverpool’s opening goal yesterday took a huge deflection off Tosin Adarabioyo giving Leno no chance, but Cody Gakpo linked up brilliantly with Darwin Nunez to score the winner.
Fulham went to Anfield to soak up pressure and take the tie back to Craven Cottage in the second leg.
On the rare occasions Fulham did hit Liverpool on the break, Conor Bradley and co. were there to thwart their attacks.
Bradley’s teammates praise his most recent Reds outing
Posting on Instagram after the match, Bradley said: “Big win! Well done boys. Thanks for the support.”
Curtis Jones thought he was on fire and Luis Diaz applauded the young full-back.
Injured defender Andy Robertson replied, “Love it son!”, while Harvey Elliott simply called Bradley, “Quality.”
In fact, it felt like nearly the entire Liverpool squad poured into Bradley’s replies to praise him for his performance against Fulham.
He was tasked with replacing arguably the Premier League’s most creative player this season as well as keeping out a rapid Fulham attack.
Bradley stars under the spotlight at Anfield
Marco Silva’s side have been up and down this season, but when they’ve played well, it’s because their play on the left wing has simply overwhelmed teams.
Willian and Antonee Robinson are brilliant on that side for Fulham but Bradley time and again did brilliantly to prevent them from opening up Liverpool on that flank.
He put in a last-ditch challenge in the box to try and stop the Brazilian from opening the scoring, but Willian’s quick feet were no match for him, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
However, Bradley created a golden chance for Darwin Nunez in the closing minutes but Bernd Leno stuck out a foot to keep the scoreline at 2-1.
Alexander-Arnold is a big fan of Bradley and Alan Shearer thought he was brilliant against Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Bradley might have cemented his place in Klopp’s first team for years to come after his displays in the last seven days.
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