At 03:00 a.m. Beijing time on April 19, Liverpool of the Red Army will usher in the second leg of the Europa League 1|4 final and Atalanta, this time Liverpool is playing away. In the first leg between the two sides in midweek, Liverpool lost 0:3 at home to Atalanta, causing a big upset. Such a result also made Liverpool's dream of winning this season's Europa League instantly slim.
Although Liverpool is significantly stronger than Serie A team Atalanta in terms of overall combat effectiveness, it may not be so easy to score more than 3 goals away from home and keep clean sheets against opponents to achieve a shocking reversal. What's more, Liverpool's recent form has been very sluggish, and it has not tasted victory in 3 consecutive games. Therefore, the probability of Uncle Scum leading Liverpool to achieve a shocking reversal should not be large.
The roof leak happened to rain overnight. Just as this life-and-death battle was about to begin, Liverpool suffered another very fatal piece of bad news. That is, right wing-back Connor Bradley, who has been in great form lately, suffered an ankle injury against Crystal Palace in the last round and is expected to be sidelined for at least three weeks. That means the talented defender will be out for the Europa League clash with Atalanta.
Conor Bradley, who has just turned 20 this year, is a popular star in the Northern Ireland national team and has a bright future. This season, due to the injury of the super winger Alexander-Arnold in the Liverpool backline, Uncle Scum boldly used Connor Bradley, who was only 20 years old. originally thought that Connor Bradley would be embarrassed by the task, but he did not expect that he would perfectly replace Alexander-Arnold and become an indispensable and important player on Liverpool's right side. His consistent highlight-reel performances at Liverpool have almost made people forget about Trent Alexander-Arnold's existence.
Statistics show that Conor Bradley has played 22 games for Liverpool in all competitions this season, and in addition to doing a thorough job on the defensive end, he has also contributed a total of 1 goal and 6 assists for the team. To say that he is a super winger who is both offensive and defensive is not an exaggeration. Therefore, such an important Connor Bradley is now unable to play due to injury, which is undoubtedly a fatal blow to Liverpool, who is about to face a life-and-death battle in the Europa League.
Although Connor Bradley is only a 20-year-old rising star in the back, he is crucial for Liverpool, and it is no exaggeration to say that his absence due to injury will greatly reduce the probability of Liverpool's comeback. I can only wish Liverpool the best of luck.