NI's Bradley aims to give Wirtz 'difficult night'

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There's a reason we bought him for the money we did," said Bradley, whose first Northern Ireland goal came against the Scotland side of Liverpool team-mate Andy Robertson in March 2024.

"He's obviously had a brilliant few years at Leverkusen and now he's come to us, and I think he started the season really well.

He's really good with the ball, he's really creative and he's not scared to take a few risks with the ball as well.

"He's a top player and I know it's going to be a difficult night for me but hopefully I can make it a difficult night for him too."

Image source, Getty Images

Having played just 10 minutes for Liverpool this season because of injury, Northern Ireland's win over Luxembourg on Thursday evening represented Bradley's first start of the 2025-26 campaign.

Coming at a time when he would have hoped to stake a claim for the Liverpool right-back berth following Trent Alexander-Arnold's move to Real Madrid, the 22-year-old acknowledged it had been frustrating to start the season on the sidelines.

"It was really disappointing to pick up the injury when I did," he said.

"Obviously it wasn't a big injury, it was only a few weeks, but it was really disappointing.

"I think you can look at it both ways.

Obviously, that means the group's wide open now which is good for us [and] if we can get a positive result it's only good for us."

Germany's latest loss means it is three defeats on the spin for Julian Nagelsmann's side, but Bradley is in no doubt about the enduring quality of the four-time World Cup winners.

"It's going to be a really difficult test.