Bradley Aims To Give Wirtz 'difficult Night'

Fifa World Cup qualifier: Germany v Northern Ireland

Venue: RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne Date: Sunday, 7 September Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Coverage: Watch unrecorded connected BBC One NI, BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app

Conor Bradley is looking guardant to nan situation of facing his caller Liverpool team-mate Florian Wirtz erstwhile Northern Ireland play Germany successful World Cup qualifying connected Sunday.

Wirtz joined nan Anfield nine from Bayer Leverkusen successful a £116m woody successful June and has started 3 Premier League games for Arne Slot's side.

The 22-year-old has yet to stock nan section pinch Bradley, whose return from a hamstring wounded past period came arsenic a replacement for Wirtz against Newcastle United, but nan brace fig to beryllium successful nonstop guidance down nan flank astatine nan RheinEnergieStadion successful Cologne.

"Florian's a apical player. There's a logic we bought him for nan money we did," said Bradley, whose first Northern Ireland extremity came against nan Scotland broadside of Liverpool team-mate Andy Robertson successful March 2024.

"He's evidently had a superb fewer years astatine Leverkusen and now he's travel to us, and I deliberation he started nan play really well. He's really bully pinch nan ball, he's really imaginative and he's not frightened to return a fewer risks pinch nan shot arsenic well.

"He's a apical subordinate and I cognize it's going to beryllium a difficult nighttime for maine but hopefully I tin make it a difficult nighttime for him too."

Having played conscionable 10 minutes for Liverpool this play because of his injury, Northern Ireland's triumph complete Luxembourg connected Thursday evening represented Bradley's first commencement of nan 2025-26 campaign.

Coming astatine a clip erstwhile he would person hoped to liking a declare for nan Liverpool right-back berth pursuing Trent Alexander-Arnold's move to Real Madrid, nan 22-year-old acknowledged it had been frustrating to commencement nan play connected nan sidelines.

"It was really disappointing to prime up nan wounded erstwhile I did," he said.

"Obviously it wasn't a large injury, it was only a fewer weeks, but it was really disappointing. I'm conscionable happy to beryllium backmost now.

"I person to show patience and I conscionable person to gait myself done games to make judge I get done them and conscionable look aft myself."

Germany travel into Sunday's crippled disconnected nan backmost of Thursday's astonishment 2-0 nonaccomplishment to Slovakia to commencement their qualifying run pinch Bradley believing it is simply a consequence that leaves nan title to make it to adjacent year's World Cup from Pool A "wide open".

"Shocked, probably, to commencement with," he said of his guidance to proceeding news of Slovakia's triumph aft coming disconnected nan transportation successful Luxembourg.

"I deliberation you tin look astatine it some ways. I deliberation it's bully and bad. Obviously, that intends nan group's wide unfastened now which is bully for america [and] if we tin get a affirmative consequence it's only bully for us."

Germany's latest nonaccomplishment intends it is 3 defeats connected nan rotation for Julian Nagelsmann's side, but Bradley is successful nary uncertainty astir nan enduring value of nan four-time World Cup winners.

"It's going to beryllium a really difficult test. Germany are 1 of nan apical nations successful nan full world," he added.

"They've sewage immoderate apical players, truthful it's ever bully going up against apical players and seeing wherever you're astatine compared to them.

"Obviously pinch nan consequence nan different nighttime for them, they're going to beryllium bang astatine it from nan commencement truthful we've sewage to instrumentality together and I deliberation we're successful pinch a bully chance."