Liverpool beat Fulham in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg with Conor Bradley impressing.
Jurgen Klopp lavished praise on ‘top boy’ Conor Bradley as Liverpool edged closer to Wembley following their 2-1 Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg victory over Fulham.
The Reds were hit by a huge blow ahead of the encounter as they learned Trent Alexander-Arnold would be sidelined for three weeks with a knee injury. The right-back joined fellow defenders Andy Robertson, Joel Matip and Kostas Tsmikas on the treatment table.
As a result, Bradley was given a chance to shine for Fulham’s visit to Anfield. The 20-year-old thrived on loan at Bolton Wanderers last campaign but suffered a back injury in pre-season that ruled him out for the best part of four months.
Bradley delivered an eye-catching performance against Fulham. While Willian opened the scoring in the 19th minute, the experienced former Chelsea man didn’t do much else throughout the game. In addition, Bradley augmented his side’s attacking threat impressively, especially in the second half as goals from Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo put Liverpool in the driving seat.
Bradley was making only his 10th appearance for Liverpool – and the most prominent of his fledgling career. And the Northern Ireland international has been backed to get even better. Reds boss Klopp said: “I told him before the game already I was waiting for that moment that we can give him the opportunity. I was really waiting for it because when he got injured in pre-season, my opinion about him was already here [high] and then he was out for a pretty long time. A top boy. Today was pretty intense for him. Somebody has to drive him home hopefully because he really is sitting in the dressing room and doesn’t look great!
“He gave his absolute everything and it’s just so nice to see, it’s really so nice to see. And the next is sitting outside on the bench already. That’s really cool that he could show how good he already is and, of course, so much more to come. In the first goal, things like this happen, but if you are a defender there will always be an involvement in a goal somehow. But it’s all about how quick can you get into the game again and I didn’t see any kind of reaction – I liked that a lot.”
