Thierry Henry lauds Liverpool right back Conor Bradley after an ‘outstanding’ performance against Kylian Mbappe that made the Real Madrid star ‘struggle’

Thierry Henry has said Conor Bradley was ‘excellent’ for Liverpool in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Real Madrid at Anfield.

Goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo gave the Reds a deserved win and kept Arne Slot’s men top of the UEFA Champions League table.

But Bradley was widely praised as the Man of the Match, including by Lewis Steele of Mail Sport, who scored him a grade of 9/10 in his player ratings.

Bradley touched the ball 70 times in his 86 minutes on the pitch and he played 49 passes – including an assist for Mac Allister’s goal – and registered two shots.

The right-back also completed more tackles (four) than any other Liverpool player – one of which was a blistering slide challenge against Kylian Mbappe in the 32nd minute.

Bradley did not commit any errors, but was fouled three times himself.

Real Madrid striker Mbappé could not beat Bradley at Anfield on Wednesday

Right-back Bradley made four tackles during the match without conceding a single free-kick

Reflecting on Bradley’s firm but fair first-half slide tackle on Mbappe, former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Henry said on CBS Sports: “That already set the tone for me.”

Henry, who was joined on the CBS panel by Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards, added: “Boom! That’s it. You all know you were centre-backs, right-backs or whatever, if you come across someone like that at the start of the game you’re going to have a hard time.’

Henry was also very impressed with what Bradley produced offensively.

“We see him making that run [forward]every time – he was into it,” Henry continued. ‘You saw it, he fancied himself against Mbappé.

‘Everything he did was perfect. We waited for Mo Salah, we waited for Mbappe, but we saw Conor Bradley, so fair to him.”

In Wednesday’s match, Bradley started for the fourth time this season under Slot, with two of his first three starts coming in the Carabao Cup.

But the manager’s decision to play the Northern Irishman instead of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was an unused substitute, proved to be a very smart move.

In summary, Henry concluded: “Conor Bradley was simply outstanding.

Bradley also set up teammate Alexis Mac Allister (third right) for the opening goal of the match

Thierry Henry, pictured during an appearance on CBS Sports, was very impressed with Bradley

Henry was joined during CBS Sports’ coverage of Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League action by Kate Scott (left), Jamie Carragher (second right) and Micah Richards (right)

‘I don’t think he had to do much defensively because Mbappe didn’t do much offensively. So it became very easy.

“But the positions he’s in now and what he can do and how he understands when to make that run.

“To be honest, the assist wasn’t an assist from Trent, but it’s still where it should be.”

After beating the 15-time European champions on Wednesday, Liverpool are top of the Champions League with 15 points from five games. Madrid are now 24th with just six points.

Teams ranked between ninth and 24th at the end of the league stage will take part in a two-legged play-off, with the winners reaching the last 16.

The top eight teams in the competition stage will advance directly to the round of 16, while teams finishing 25th to 36th will be eliminated from Europe.

Liverpool’s next three Champions League games are against Girona, Lille and PSV Eindhoven.

The league phase ends on January 29, before the play-off round takes place in February. The round of 16 will then start on March 4.