2024 is proving to be a landmark year in the career of Liverpool defender Conor Bradley.
Eight weeks on from scoring his first senior Reds goal, the 20-year-old ticked off another major milestone by netting for his country for the first time on the occasion of his 15th cap. He did it in style, too, conjuring a sublime winner as Northern Ireland defeated Scotland 1-0 at Hampden Park on Tuesday night.
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The youngster took to Instagram after the match to post images of him celebrating that magnificent strike, along with the caption ‘First international goal’.
Unsurprisingly, Bradley had plenty of Liverpool teammates queuing up to congratulate him in the comments, with Caoimhin Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk, Harvey Elliott, Lewis Koumas and Bobby Clark all heaping praise on the right-back.
The curious thing about Bradley’s performance last night is that, judging by Sofascore statistics, he had a very quiet 83 minutes on the pitch in Glasgow, completing only three passes, losing eight of his 10 duels, being dribbled past four times and giving away the ball on 12 occasions.
However, that mattered little once he curled home his exquisite winning goal, which had Belfast Telegraph reporter Graham Luney giving him a 9/10 in his post-match player ratings, dubbing the 20-year-old the ‘hero of Hampden’ and hailing him as a ‘lethal finisher disguised as a full-back’.
He’s made light of what could’ve been the crippling injury absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool by producing a series of outstanding performances on the right flank, and his landmark moment last night will see him return to Merseyside bursting with confidence ahead of the Reds’ run-in to the season.
We’re buzzing to see what the rest of the year has in store for Bradley, whose stock is rising rapidly as the weeks progress.
You can view Bradley’s Instagram post (and the comments from his Liverpool teammates) below, via conorbradley.03:
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