Pep Guardiola gives glowing verdict on one Liverpool star after Man City battle

Pep Guardiola reserved praise for Conor Bradley in the wake of Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat against Manchester City on Sunday.

The Northern Irishman was up against City’s most dangerous attacking outlet in Jeremy Doku, who was selected as the player of the match and scored City’s third goal via a sublime finish from distance.

But it was his jinking dribbling that caused Liverpool real issues. He flew past Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch early on and enjoyed a back-and-forth tussle with Bradley throughout the match.

While the Liverpool academy graduate was caught out on a few occasions and picked up a booking for chopping the winger down midway through the second half, he was perhaps the one player on the losing side to emerge with real credit from the chastening defeat at the Etihad.

Guardiola even saved some special words for him after the game. “Today, Bradley, I'm really impressed with,” said the Catalan, following his 1000th match as a head coach.

“[Pep] Lijnders told me he can do everything - and I know how good he was with Vinicius and he handled it.

“He was aggressive with and without the ball. We tried to help him and he played an outstanding game.”

At the other end of the field, Nico O’Reilly also had a recurring battle with Mohamed Salah.

Again, both had good moments, but for the City left-back to stand up to the challenge against one of the Premier League’s best attackers was seen as a real bonus for Guardiola.

“Salah has been a nightmare for many years with his speed,” he explained. “He's top. We said to Nico he had to be aggressive, otherwise every time Mo had the ball he was helped with one or two central defenders, and Jeremy and Bernardo [Silva] and Phil [Foden].

“The team worked incredibly and defensively they were really good, especially in the first half. Nico [Gonzalez] made a step up because you have to prove how you behave against the best wingers. It is no bad example to do that against Salah.”

The result means Liverpool now sits eight points off the league leaders Arsenal, has lost more matches this term than it did during the entirety of the 2024/25 league campaign, while Slot suffered his biggest league defeat as Liverpool boss.

For City, the statement display saw it move up to second place, and it now trails the Gunners by just four points.

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