Jurgen Klopp saluted ‘very special’ Conor Bradley after another impressive Liverpool performance on his return following compassionate leave.
Bradley was excellent in the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold when the Reds skipper was on the sidelines last month. The 20-year-old helped Liverpool reach the Carabao Cup final while he scored his maiden goal for the club in a 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea.
However, the sad passing of his father meant that Bradley missed Liverpool’s previous two games. He returned to Merseyside earlier this week and with Alexander-Arnold suffering a recurrence of a knee problem, he was handed his latest outing at Brentford.
The Reds earned a 4-1 victory to remain two points clear at the top of the Premier League table. Bradley featured for 83 minutes, with his defensive work impeccable while he almost opened the scoring in the 10th minute.
Given what Bradley has been through, Klopp marvelled at the Northern Ireland international’s display. The Liverpool manager told reporters: “I am over the moon about him. Yes, you are right, it was pretty special. Very, very special. But he was special before the weekend. He’s now again pretty special.
“He played an exceptional game. We had the situation again with changes. Who do we take off? Is it Robbo (Andy Robertson) who played a second game in a row after a long, long break. Or is it Conor? [We] decided in the end for Conor. Robbo can maybe manage it with his experience slightly better. Yeah, very impressive, absolutely.”
