Reaction'I loved every minute of it' - Conor Bradley describes semi-final start at Anfield

Making his second start of the season at right-back on Wednesday night, Bradley’s efforts earned him the Player of the Match award from supporters.

The Reds fell behind in the first leg of the last-four encounter at Anfield, with Willian firing into the Kop-end net on 19 minutes.

But the hosts rallied and wrested back control of the tie in the second half as Curtis Jones’ deflected strike was followed by a slick Cody Gakpo finish to secure a 2-1 win.

Post-match, Liverpoolfc.com caught up with Bradley to reflect on the evening’s events…

On the chance to start a cup semi-final at Anfield…

I was nervous, to be fair, before the game. But I’m just glad we won the game; obviously that’s only half the job done. But the boys played well, did well to come back from a goal down. So, very happy.

On needing a few minutes to grow into the game…

Yeah, to be fair, this is my first game back here since I was on loan, starting obviously. So it took me a few minutes to get into it, but once I got into it I loved every minute of it. Obviously it’s a dream for me to play at Anfield and I’m just buzzing with how it went.

On filling in for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold…

Yeah, obviously Trent is probably the best right-back in the world at the minute, if not the best player in the world the way he’s playing. So he’s a big miss for us, but I just tried to do everything I could to fill in for him. And thankfully we got the win.

On the importance of playing his own game in the position rather than trying to replicate Alexander-Arnold...

Yeah, definitely. Obviously I’m not Trent Alexander-Arnold, so I’m just going to play my game and just contribute what I can to the team. Hopefully that does us well.

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On the key message from the manager at half-time with the Reds trailing 1-0…

I think we just needed more runs in behind. They wanted me to stay on the last line, obviously give us a bit of width and stuff like that. We just needed more runs in behind and needed to create more chances, thankfully we did that and we got two good goals.

On the impact of Gakpo and Darwin Nunez as second-half substitutes…

Yeah, definitely – both world-class players and you saw their impact in the game, they were brilliant when they came on. To still have that depth with the injuries we do have is really good.

On the influence Liverpool fans had on turning the score around…

The fans were unbelievable, the roar especially when we scored that first goal and any time we put a tackle in or played a good pass forward. They were right with us, the fans were brilliant.

On the nice feeling of being one good result away from Wembley…

I hope we do get to Wembley. Obviously we’re only halfway there but it would be special getting to Wembley again and hopefully pick up the first trophy of the season.