Ryan Gravenberch and Conor Bradley of Liverpool during a pre-season training session at Japan Football Association Yume on July 28, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)placeholder image
Ryan Gravenberch and Conor Bradley of Liverpool during a pre-season training session at Japan Football Association Yume on July 28, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images) | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League and they have one player who is close to a suspension.
A Liverpool player heads into tonight’s clash against Eintracht Frankfurt walking a suspension tightrope.
The Reds must be wary that Conor Bradley heads into the Champions League encounter at the Deutsche Bank Arena having already collected two bookings in the competition. The right-back was issued yellow cards in the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid and 1-0 defeat by Galatasaray.
Bradley’s bookings this season
UEFA rules state that any player who is cautioned three times which did not result in a red card must serve a one-game ban. Then any subsequent odd-numbered yellow cards result in another suspension and they are not wiped until after the quarter-finals. Therefore, if Bradley is cautioned against Frankfurt then he will have to sit out Real Madrid’s visit to Anfield on match-day four.
Bradley has also been booked three times in the Premier League so far this term. In addition, he missed Northern Ireland’s 1-0 World Cup qualifying defeat by Germany earlier this month after going into the referee’s notebook in a 1-0 win over Slovakia.
Northern Ireland team-mate Trai Hume said on Bradley’s suspension: "We spoke before the game about the boys who were on yellows trying not to get one, but it's one of those things. You can't go into a game trying not to get booked. You've got to play to your strengths. He's full throttle. He's 100% all the time.”
Norn Iron team-mate Ethan Galbraith added via ESPN: "He almost makes the game easier for me. He's a quality player and I love playing with him...You can see how big and how much of a quality player he is. So it's a major loss, but sometimes things like this happen in football.”
Bradley has had somewhat of a disjointed start to the 2025-26 season for Liverpool after suffering an early injury. However, he has started the past two matches - defeats by Chelsea and Manchester United - and finds himself ahead of Jeremie Frimpong at right-back following the exit of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid in the summer transfer window.
Bradley’s impact against Real Madrid
“That (tackle) for me, already did set the tone,” Arsenal legend Thierry Henry said on CBS Sports. “Boom! That’s it. You all know, you guys were centre-back, right-back, whatever, when you go into someone like that at the beginning of the game, you’re going to struggle.
“We see him making that run (forwards), every time – he fancied it. You could see, he fancied himself against Mbappe. Everything he did was spot on. We were waiting for Salah, we were waiting for Mbappe, but we saw Conor Bradley, so fair play to him.
“Conor Bradley was just outstanding. I think he didn’t have to do a lot defensively because Mbappe didn’t do a lot offensively. So it became very easy. But the positions he takes right now and what he can do and how he understands when he needs to make that run… The assist (for Mac Allister’s goal) was not a Trent (Alexander-Arnold) assist, in all fairness, but still, he is where he is supposed to be.”
Continue Reading