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Liverpool’s squad is littered with leaders, and the October international break has thrust two young defenders into the captain’s role, and they combined for a 12-0 win in their last outing.
At just 21, Conor Bradley was handed the captain’s armband for Northern Ireland’s Nations League matches this month, leading his side to a draw and a win.
He became the youngest captain for his country against Belarus, with manager Michael O’Neill hailing his “maturity” and how serious he is “about his football.”
There was no win to celebrate in that first game with the armband, but Northern Ireland piled on the goals against Bulgaria on Tuesday evening to place them at the top of their group.
Bradley played the full 90 minutes at right-wing back as his side won 5-0 thanks to an own goal, a strike from Exeter City’s Josh Magennis and a hat-trick from 21-year-old Isaac Price.
“I knew something like this was coming around the corner, it was just a matter of time. Just really happy it’s happened tonight,” Bradley told the BBC of the thumping win at Windsor Park.
As per FotMob, Bradley had the second-most touches of any Northern Ireland player on the night (64), won 10 duels, but completed just one of his six attempted dribbles.
He returns to Merseyside having played every minute for his country, which was also the case for Jarell Quansah.
Having played just 135 minutes under Arne Slot so far this season, the international break proved an important one for the centre-back as he got 180 minutes under his belt in just five days.
He even had the honour of captaining the England under-21s against Azerbaijan, walking away with a thumping 7-0 victory to secure top spot in their U21 Euro qualifying group.
The Three Lions had six different goalscorers, and Quansah came close to notching an assist after delivering a raking pass to Morgan Rogers, who volleyed his effort over the bar.
Fellow Liverpool teammate Tyler Morton watched the majority of the match from the bench but played the final 19 minutes in the dominant victory.
Although Quansah will be 22 by the time Lee Carsley returns to lead England’s defence of their U21 Euro title next summer, he will still be eligible to be in the squad, as too Morton and Harvey Elliott.
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