'Brilliant': Liverpool player gives instant reaction to Florian Wirtz's stunning free-kick for Germany last night
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Liverpool forward Florian Wirtz answered some of his critics on Sunday with a wonderful free-kick goal for Germany.
The 22-year-old has not quite been at his best during the early part of the season and has taken some flak in the press as a result.
Wirtz failed to spark for Germany against Slovakia last week, leading to some concern over his level since arriving at Liverpool this summer.
However, class is clearly permanent, and the £116m man hit back with a superb strike to finally see off a spirited performance from Conor Bradley‘s Northern Ireland in Cologne.
Wirtz will now head back to Liverpool, where he should go into this weekend’s match against Burnley with a spring in his step.
There he will join back up with Bradley, who was not in the best mood following his teammate’s goal on Sunday evening.
Photo by Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images
Bradley was looking forward to facing Wirtz in Germany, joking before the game about the all-Liverpool match-up.
However, having seen his team beaten 3-1 in what appeared to be a relatively even game, the right-back was in a more sober mood as he spoke to the Belfast Telegraph after the match.
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“We’re disappointed,” said Bradley.
“They are a good team but I thought we played well on the night, especially in the first half, and I’m disappointed because I thought we should have got more than that.
“I don’t think they were overly great on the night.
I don’t think we lost because they were brilliant.
I thought we lost because obviously the goals weren’t great that we conceded.”
On Wirtz’s free-kick, whilst he hailed the quality of the strike, Bradley insisted that it was not even a foul in the first place.
“The third one was a brilliant free-kick by Flo,” he admitted.
“But I don’t think it was a free-kick.
So, it’s disappointing but we will see them in Belfast in a month’s time.”
Bradley was in the wall which Wirtz beat to score his eighth international goal on Sunday.