Conor Bradley: NI defender Bradley embracing 'whirlwind' season with Anfield giants
Last updated on .From the section Northern Ireland
| Romania v Northern Ireland & Scotland v Northern Ireland - international friendlies |
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| Venues: Bucharest & Glasgow Dates: Friday, 22 March & Tuesday, 26 March Kick-offs: 19:45 GMT |
| Romania coverage: Listen live on BBC Sounds and Radio Ulster with live text commentary on the BBC Sport website |
| Scotland coverage: Watch live on BBC Two NI & BBC iPlayer with live radio & text commentary on BBC Sounds, Radio Ulster & the BBC Sport website |
Northern Ireland defender Conor Bradley says his meteoric rise at Liverpool this season has been "a bit of a whirlwind'.
The 20-year-old scored his first Liverpool goal in January and won the Carabao Cup a month later.
"To get out there playing for Liverpool is brilliant but to get my first goal and first couple of assists has been unreal," he told BBC Sport NI.
"It's pretty special what's happened and I just want to keep it going."
January was a breakthrough month for the right-back after replacing the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold in Jurgen Klopp's side.
Bradley provided an assist as he made his full Premier League debut against Bournemouth before delivering a man-of-the-match display in a 4-1 win over Chelsea.
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He lit up Anfield with two assists and his first goal for the club before he started at Wembley as Liverpool captured the Carabao Cup a month later with a 1-0 win over Chelsea.
Bradley took a brief break from the game when his father Joe died in February and help from his family has been key to his development.
Debut delight
"It was so special to make my Premier League debut - I don't think I can actually put it into words," the County Tyrone man added.
"It's what I had been waiting for for such a long time and I've been dreaming about for a long time, so to get that and to also assist in that game was brilliant, I was just buzzing.
"It's pretty mental all the trophies I've collected in the last couple of months but it's been brilliant and I don't think I could have dreamt of it going quite so well. But I want to keep it going, I want to keep working hard. I want to keep improving myself because I know there's still a lot of improvement to be made.
"I just a normal lad from back in Ireland. I just try to be myself and I've got a great family behind me, my mum and sister - they're brilliant with me and they help me a lot.
"I was nine or 10, first going over for trial there so it's been quite some years and it's been quite some journey. A lot of hard work has been involved and it's been brilliant."
Bradley made his senior Liverpool debut in 2021 and returned to the club last summer after a successful loan spell at Bolton Wanderers.
He is now part of a squad which is in contention for the Premier League title and through to quarter-finals of the Europa League - Bradley is hungry for more success in Klopp's final season before stepping down.
Klopp has lavished praise on Bradley, describing him as an "exceptional talent" and a "wonderful character".
"It makes me feel really good, hearing it from him. I've looked up to him since he's been at Liverpool and he's just a really nice guy as well, which makes it mean a lot more," said Bradley.
"He's just good with me and helps me out when I need help. He's helped me loads and given me my first chance so I'll be forever grateful to him.
"It would be lovely [to win the Premier League] but there's still hard work to go to get that and there's still loads of games left.
"Hopefully at the end of the season with Liverpool I'll have a couple more medals to my name, which would be brilliant and give the gaffer the send-off he deserves."
NI double-header
Bradley's immediate focus is on Northern Ireland's fortunes after he returned to the squad for the away friendlies against Romania and Scotland.
Michael O'Neill's team endured a disappointing Euro 2024 qualifying campaign although they finished on a high with a 2-0 victory over group winners Denmark at Windsor Park.
Romania are first up on Friday night with a meeting four days later with Scotland, a match which could see Bradley come up against Liverpool team-mate Andy Robertson.
"Hopefully it will fun and I can get the better of him - it will be a good game, especially at Hampden Park with a sold-out crowd," said Bradley.
"We'll all be looking forward to it and hopefully we'll get the win. It's actually been quite a while since I've been in the squad. To be back with the boys is really good and I'm glad to be back.
"Hopefully I can bring [my form] into it and put in a good performances. I don't think we'll treat them like friendlies because we need to start winning games.
"The last game against Denmark was a great win so hopefully we can continue on from that performance and try to get more wins under our belt - that would be brilliant."