Conor Bradley of Liverpool is challenged by Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid C.F. at Anfield on November 04, 2025 in Liverpool, England.placeholder image
Conor Bradley of Liverpool is challenged by Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid C.F. at Anfield on November 04, 2025 in Liverpool, England. | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool looked back to their best on Tuesday night as they beat Real Madrid 1-0 at Anfield
It was hard to pick a man of the match from Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday night as Arne Slot’s side delivered a magnificent team performance with every star stepping up against the 15-time Champions League winners.
Alexis Mac Allister scored the only goal of the game just after the hour mark as his powerful header got past the imperious Thibaut Courtois. The Reds were denied by the dominating Belgian stopper on several occasions before their opener but finally found a way past the ex-Chelsea man.
In defence, the Reds were solid against Real Madrid’s star-studded attack and limited the La Liga leaders to just a handful of chances. Andy Robertson looks to have secured his spot back in the starting XI while on the other flank Conor Bradley was in fine form.
Last season, the Northern Ireland international made a memorable crunching tackle on Kylian Mbappe that was cheered like a goal. On Tuesday, he was up against Vinícius Júnior but kept the tricky and quick winger at bay all night.
He made three tackles, two clearances and made seven recoveries as he played a big role in Liverpool’s clean sheet.
Arne Slot praises Conor Bradley for performance against Real Madrid
Speaking after the game, Liverpool boss Arne Slot said of Bradley: “So, let's be clear: we had a very bad run of form in terms of results. No excuse in the world can make up for us losing so many games. But we had to play a lot of games in a small amount of time, with hardly any rest in between when we then faced a team that had a lot of rest.
“Tonight we played against a team that played on Saturday as well, so the both of us had two days' rest. Then it's helpful to play a home game, because from the last eight I think we played six away from home. The fans can give you just a little bit of an extra edge if you are a little bit tired.
“Conor was outstanding. It was very nice. Last season he was outstanding against Real Madrid but he had to go off after 80 minutes because of an injury. Now, three days after he played 90 minutes against Villa, he again played 90 minutes with incredible intensity against Vinicius.
“I told the players before the game, they have scored 26 goals in La Liga and Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius have 24 goal contributions together. So if you want to have any chance of winning a game, you should defend your set-pieces well because that's a way teams score, but great individuals can score goals as well and these two definitely can. Conor defended very good against Vinicius.”
Jeremie Frimpong savage rection to Conor Bradley performance
The post gained reaction from plenty of his teammates with Ryan Gravenberch dubbing the right-back “too good” but Jeremie Frimpong was more brutal in his verdict. He said “Talk about locking someone” in reference to how Bradley frustrated Vinícius Júnior on Tuesday night.
The win was a hugely-important one for the Reds as they moved onto nine points from a possible 12 from their four Champions League games. Up next is a clash with PSV at home before they travel to Inter Milan in early December.
In January, they travel to Marseille and host Qarabag FK in their final two league phase games.
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