Bradley 'disrespect', Bellingham feelings, Salah view exposed - Inside Liverpool 2-0 Real Madrid

Welcome to Anfield: Where Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe are booed relentlessly for 90 minutes and academy graduates are fired on by the crowd. That is Liverpool at their best, and boy did Arne Slot deliver.

In the most high-profile Champions League meeting since *checks notes* beating last season's unbeaten Bundesliga winners 4-0 before the international break, Liverpool were at it again. From start to finish, Carlo Ancelotti's reigning European conquerors were beaten into submission.

Antonio Rudiger fighting with Virgil van Dijk was about as good as it got for Los Blancos as second half goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo - on as a substitute - left Slot top of the continent as well as England. Revenge for the two finals under Jurgen Klopp?Not quite, but a mightily impressive night on Merseyside all-round, and that is even with Mohamed Salah's missed penalty.

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Here, Liverpool Echo has all the best bits from the game and the wider coverage.

That Bradley tackle

31 minutes in and a genuinely firey and entertaining encounter sees one of it's best moments. Kylian Mbappe, opening up his legs on the left flank, is threatening to steam into the Liverpool box. Step forward Conor Bradley. “Boom!" said Thierry Henry on CBS about the moment after the match. "That’s it. When you go into someone like that at the beginning of the game, you’re going to struggle."

Bradley, showing more evidence of his fearless nature despite starting in such a big game in the place of Trent Alexander-Arnold, crunched into Mbappe, sliding into and through the forward, taking the ball cleanly. Anfield erupted and Bradley got up quickly to win the ball back.

Not too many individual tackles in a group stage game become famous but this one already is. “We see him making that run, every time - he fancied it," Henry continued. "You could see, he fancied himself against Mbappe. Everything he did was spot on. We were waiting for Salah, we were waiting for Mbappe, but we saw Conor Bradley, so fair play to him.”

He finished: “Conor Bradley was just outstanding. I think he didn’t have to do a lot defensively because Mbappe didn’t do a lot offensively. So, it became very easy.”

Danny Murphy was also full of praise for Bradley on BBC's highlights show. “This was probably the biggest roar of the night," he said over the clip of the tackle. "It’s the athleticism and the timing and also the courage to do it. There’s no respect. The ball needs winning. Doesn’t matter who you are.

"When you see a young player play in arguably his biggest game against one of the best players in Europe on such a huge occasion with a pressurised atmosphere and perform like that, it’s incredible really. I think he’s got a great future. I know there’s a lot of talk about Trent at the moment, but what a player to come in and fill in the gaps for him.”

Slot, who wanted to pick out Bradley for his role in Mac Allister's opener, was also gushing. "Did Conor play the ball square to Macca [for the first goal]?" he questioned before launching into further positives from the performance.

"He was in a strange position then as a right full-back! It is nice for him, his family, and for us but also for the Academy, that a player comes through the ranks and does so well. But it is not only Conor, Caoimh [Kelleher] and Curtis [Jones] were outstanding and all of them were but to have three academy players doing so well is a big compliment for the academy at this club.

"Conor did very well, but I am totally not surprised of him doing so well because he showed it last season and this as well, so it's very nice for him."

Read on about Bradley's performance, here.

Bellingham battle

England's standout midfielder of the past few years, Bellingham, finally played at Anfield. Not quite in the way many would have hoped after being courted for years by the Reds, but it happened. Oh, and didn't he get reminded of the flirtation along the way.

Liverpool fans booed Bellingham throughout the match, relentlessly jeering the dynamic Birmingham-born figure. It wasn't a terrible game from the 21-year-old but he failed to impact proceedings at either end, often doing the dirty work for Luka Modric and having to cover for the absence of Eduardo Camavinga once he was taken off with injury.

The former Borussia Dortmund man had no excuses at full-time. “From the first minute they took control of the game," he told TNT Sports. "We never really maximised the spells we had in possession, when we got the ball back we tried to force it. They kept control. They kept us in a place where we couldn't harm them.

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"They were just more up for it, which is really disappointing to say. It's a bad result against probably the best performing team in Europe. It's no disgrace to come here and lose, but we're not happy with how we performed. But it's important we use it in the right way."

Bellingham, who had shown more signs of his maturity and character in the build-up after addressing criticism of his showings at Euro 2024 over the summer, was also captured asking for Alexander-Arnold's shirt in the tunnel post-game. He was seen on camera waiting outside the Liverpool dressing room as Ryan Gravenberch passed him his friend's jersey for the night.

Read more, here.

Robertson exposes Carragher

There's no surprise that it was all smiles for Liverpool's stars after the game with Andy Robertson taking his chance to get stuck into Jamie Carragher. The former Reds defender - and CBS pundit for Champions League nights - has been the talk of the dressing room for his comments over Salah and the ongoing contract uncertainty.

Carragher claimed that Salah's latest quotes - said after the win over Southampton on Sunday - were 'selfish.' "He's been getting a bit of stick in the changing room this week, that is for sure!" the Scottish international said.

With Micah Richards and Carragher laughing in the studio, Robertson continued: "Why's that? Well, no comment! Did he overstep the mark? No, I think he gets paid to do his job and I think all of you do and it's part and parcel of football, he has to give his opinion and whether we agree with it or not is a different story!

"Punditry? Yeah, I wouldn't mind it [after retiring]. Especially your show, it looks a bit light-hearted but hopefully I've got a few years left. After it, I'll maybe give you a call to see if you can hook me up."

Read their full exchange, here.

Best of the rest

It was a busy night so here is a bitesized run-down of the rest.

Liverpool qualify

The win not only kept Slot's men at the top of the 36-team group phase table but it actually secures safe passage to the knockout stages. It is also all but certain to ensure they enter directly into the last-16 without the need for an extra play-off round.

Missed penalties

Ancelotti eluded to it when asked after the game. Kelleher's save to deny Mbappe from the spot was a crucial moment as Liverpool kept a one-goal advantage before getting the chance to double their lead shortly after through Salah.

He missed his own attempt from 12-yards, grazing the post with a sliced effort, but the pain from that didn't last long as Gakpo soon made it 2-0. “We fought right up until the point of the penalty," Ancelotti said. "If we could have evened it up, we had competed well up to that point. But we have to keep going.”

Injury worries

Both Bradley and Ibrahima Konate had to be taken off late on in a double injury concern for Slot ahead of the clash with Manchester City on Sunday. "I know where they have pain, but how bad or how good it is, it is difficult to judge so close after the game," said Slot.

"This is what happens during a season. We missed Trent today, we missed Diogo Jota today, we missed Alisson today. We didn’t miss Trent because he was on the bench, but he couldn't play from the start, but Kostas Tsimikas we missed.

"This happens through a season. I am really hoping [Bradley and Konate] are available to play because we want them all available, but if not, someone else has to step up. And until now, this season, everybody that I [have] selected to start has shown up. That's also what is going to happen on Sunday if they can play but also if they can't play, then other ones will step up."

Slot provided a further update on Bradley and Konate in a press conference on Thursday. The Liverpool boss said: "They are still being assessed so difficult to see how they are. Let's wait and see. but it's never a good sign.

"Conor we had to take him off and Ibou didn't walk off the pitch as he should after the fantastic game he played. Not a good sign. They are still being assessed, I can't tell you exactly where they are this weekend and after that."