It has been an interesting midweek game in the Champions League this week. Liverpool hosted the Champions League giants and favourites each season of the competition at Anfield on Tuesday night. Before the match, I explained how this match was important for Arne Slot and the team to send a message, given their recent poor performance throughout last month. Real Madrid is a good team and thrives in the Champions League matches, and with the inclusion of Mbappe in their squad since last season, they have been deadly on the attack.
Real Madrid had one job, and it was to exploit any form of space and hammer with a counterattack on the Liverpool defence. The Reds' defence has been nothing to write about lately with the partnership of Konate and Virgil Van Dijk on the defence line, but on Tuesday their partnership was put to the test and they delivered excellently against the front attack that consists of Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Adra Guler. Liverpool was able to put up a good defensive line against Liverpool, which made the Galacticos unable to penetrate the defence of the Reds.
Everyone on the team did well, but for me, Conor Bradley stole the show the whole night against Real Madrid. The youngster was composed throughout the 90 minutes of the match and dominated the left side of the defence, which had Vinicius Junior. It was nothing more than a power struggle in that area between both players and I can say Conor Bradley locked down Vinicius Junior that night. The Brazilian winger's tricks didn't faze the youngest throughout the game, and it was more of Vinicius struggling to influence the match.
Conor Bradley was not just good defensively, but also offensively in driving the ball forward. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Bradley has earned his spot in the starting lineup from that display on Thursday night against Liverpool. This is the opportunity for Arne Slot to go back to the drawing board and see how he can utilise Conor Bradley more this season. Jeremine Frimpong is a fantastic player, but now it's time for him to up his game and show why he needs to be in the starting lineup, because in a matter of time, I see Conor Bradley taking that role from him this season.
Liverpool is currently in 8th place in the Champions League table with four more matches to be played in the league phase of the competition. It is going to be a tough ride, but hopefully the team gets the points needed to qualify in the first eight of the competition to enter the next stage without going through the playoff stage. Now all attention moves to the match on Sunday away from home against Manchester. The two teams are struggling this season, and it will be hard to predict this game, so I will just leave it to Sunday and we will see how it goes at the end of the 90 minutes.