ReactionBradley and Quansah describe 'unbelievable' Carabao Cup emotions
Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah reflected on an ‘unbelievable’ feeling after Liverpool booked their place in the Carabao Cup final by seeing off Fulham in their semi-final second leg.
Luis Diaz’s first-half goal secured a 1-1 draw on Wednesday night at Craven Cottage and with it a 3-2 aggregate win, as Jürgen Klopp’s side set up a Wembley date with Chelsea on February 25.
It was an occasion when both youth and experience came to the fore for the Reds, who finished the game with five Academy graduates on the field.
Both Quansah, who was making only his 16th senior Liverpool appearance, and Bradley, on just his 12th, made big contributions on the night, both in an attacking sense and defensively.
And both were beaming as they spoke to Liverpoolfc.com post-match.
“It’s unbelievable!” said Quansah. “When you start up as a kid and as a footballer that’s where you want to be, you just want to be in finals.
“We’ve done the hard part now and we just have to win the final.”
Bradley agreed, and believes the faith shown in the club’s younger players by Klopp should not be underestimated.
“It just builds it [confidence] so much,” the Northern Irishman said. “To play in a semi-final of a cup for Liverpool, my dream club, it’s unreal.
“And for the gaffer to put trust in me to play tonight, especially me and Jarell playing besides each other as young players, the trust he has got in us is brilliant and we are just buzzing to get through.”
Quansah and Bradley, of course, know each other well, having played together with the club’s U18 and U21 teams.
They were both members of the side that reached the FA Youth Cup final in 2021, losing narrowly to Aston Villa, and within three years both are playing a key role for the senior set-up, and can now dream of being involved in a Wembley final.
“You imagine it but you never actually really think it,” Quansah said. “Just to do it today is a dream come true for me, to be honest, [and] seeing Conor grow as a player and as a person has been great for me.”
Quansah also paid tribute to Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, who delivered a commanding performance in the face of a spirited Fulham fightback.
“He has shown over the last five or 10 years that he is one of the best centre-backs in the world – for me the best,” he said.
“So to have that next to you, talking you through the game, helps us all. Especially because we had an inexperienced right-hand side, some would say.
“But me and Conor have played together for a long time now so we know each other’s game quite well, so to have that and be able to stick together, we showed we were able to stick together during our FA Youth Cup days, so being able to transfer that onto here is a great night for us.”
Asked about the incentive of earning a place in the team for next month’s final, Quansah replied: “100 per cent. That’s how everyone trains. Again, there’s a lot of competition between everyone and everyone wants to start in a final, so it’s just about taking any opportunity that comes.
“There’s a lot of games before then so any game I can get, any chance I get I’m just going to try to play my best, get rhythm and get form.”
Bradley, meanwhile, reflected on the game itself, and outlined Liverpool’s ambition to continue attacking every competition this season.
“To be fair, for the first 75 minutes we were in total control,” he said. “[But] once they get that goal the crowd got up and we made it difficult for ourselves. But we are just happy we are through and we can’t wait for Wembley.”
He continued: “We want to win everything that we are in this year, so there’s four cups up for grabs and we are going to try to win them all.
“But this is just in the final now, we are going to keep going in every competition and try to win them all.”