When Liverpool’s season got underway in August, Conor Bradley and Andy Robertson were sat watching the action, not taking part in it.

The full-back roles were instead filled by two new arrivals in the forms of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, who had both been signed in the Premier League champions’ record-breaking £450million ($587m) summer spending spree.

Bradley was still recovering from the hamstring injury he’d picked up in pre-season, while 31-year-old Robertson had been relegated to bench duty as head coach Arne Slot looked to the future. Both have endured plenty of frustration in their respective battles to get back to where they wanted to be.

Last weekend’s Premier League win against Aston Villa was the first time they had started a game together since the final match of last season in May. Retained for Tuesday’s Champions League triumph over Real Madrid, they repaid the faith shown in them by Slot as they helped to nullify the Spanish league leaders’ array of firepower.

What’s been an area of glaring vulnerability for Liverpool previously this season suddenly looks like one of strength, with Bradley and Robertson integral to securing back-to-back clean sheets ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester City.

Bradley deservedly basked in the adulation of the Anfield crowd last night. With his right-back predecessor Trent Alexander-Arnold mercilessly booed on his first return since putting plenty of noses out of joint as he moved to Madrid in the summer, the 22-year-old Northern Ireland international delivered the best performance of his career.

Vinicius Junior went from smelling blood early on to losing heart as Bradley pocketed him. The dangerous Brazilian attacker, who lost possession 20 times across the 90 minutes, didn’t have a single attempt on goal. Aggressive but controlled, Bradley won all three of his tackles and eight of his 13 duels (62 per cent).

Yet, bizarrely, tournament organiser and European football’s governing body UEFA gave its official man of the match award to Alexis Mac Allister, in recognition of his headed winner — a decision even the Argentinian’s team-mates could not agree with.

“Yeah, I’d have given it to Conor,” Robertson told in-house media’s LFCTV. “Maybe I’m biased with him being a full-back, but I thought he was outstanding against one of the world’s best. He defended so well against Vinicius.

“Conor is an unbelievable talent, and people forget how young he is. I’m always on at him that it’s about consistency now. He’s always had a performance like that in him but it’s about doing it week in, week out. Now he’s getting a run in the team and you can see the confidence growing.

“He was excellent against Real Madrid last season (when Liverpool won 2-0 at Anfield slightly later in the same competition’s league phase) but even better tonight. He’s got everything to be the right full-back for Liverpool for so many years.”

Earmarked as Alexander-Arnold’s heir apparent and given a new four-year contract in May, Bradley’s coronation was delayed. It was late September, Liverpool’s seventh match in all competitions, before he was deemed fit enough to start a game this season and when he did make the line-up, he struggled for form. He was taken off at half-time away to Chelsea early last month after picking up a needless booking — one of five yellow cards in his first eight appearances of the campaign, a sign that he was too rash in his play and off the pace.

The constant chopping and changing at right-back didn’t help Liverpool as results nosedived. With Frimpong having injury issues of his own, Slot filled the void by moving Dominik Szoboszlai there as a makeshift solution. But that, in turn, weakened the midfield.

Getting Bradley fully up to speed was always going to be key to providing greater stability in the back line, and it was telling after the Villa game that Slot talked about the academy graduate needing to prove he’s robust enough to “play at this intensity every three days”.  Tuesday night was the first time he had started a Champions League game since last season’s league-phase finale in January.

Conor Bradley nullified Vinicius Jr’s threat (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Last November, at age 21, Bradley had lit up Liverpool’s previous contest with Madrid, famously dumping Kylian Mbappe on his backside with a crunching tackle, but then spent the next six weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring strain. He has made 70 senior appearances for Liverpool since a September 2021 debut but his career has been stop-start due to fitness problems. The debate over whether he can fill Alexander-Arnold’s boots long-term centres more around his durability, because his ability is undeniable.

“Conor was outstanding,” Slot said post-match last night. “Three days after he played 90 minutes against Villa, he again played 90 minutes with incredible intensity against Vinicius.

“I told the players before the game, Madrid have scored 26 goals in La Liga and Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius have 29 goal contributions together (in all competitions). So if you want to have any chance of winning, you should defend your set pieces well because that’s a way teams score, but great individuals can score goals as well, and these two definitely can. Conor defended very well against Vinicius.”

As well as delighting the crowd with his combative approach, Bradley also provided a real outlet for Liverpool as an attacking force with his intelligent underlapping runs and deliveries into the feet of Hugo Ekitike.

On the other flank, Robertson’s contribution was less eye-catching, but equally important as he linked well with Florian Wirtz, who was given the freedom to drift inside from the left into central areas.

The Scotland captain could have walked away from Anfield last summer. There was interest from Atletico Madrid and Milan, among others, as he considered his options following Liverpool’s £40million signing of fellow left-back Kerkez, 21, from Bournemouth.

Robertson knew that his status as a mainstay of the team was under serious threat for the first time since he took Alberto Moreno’s spot a few months into his 2017-18 debut season. Rather than give up, he opted to stay and fight. His reward was the vice-captaincy, with Slot acknowledging the huge respect he commands in the dressing room.

However, what Robertson really wanted was the buzz of being out there and helping to set the tone. At his age, he was never going to simply accept life as a backup and a cheerleader.

He has had to be patient, with Slot giving Kerkez the opportunity to establish himself. The Hungary international started Liverpool’s opening nine Premier League matches before dropping to the bench against Villa but endured a difficult adaptation period not dissimilar to Robertson’s own experience when he arrived from relegated Hull City.

Kerkez’s uncertainty contributed to Liverpool’s malaise during a miserable run of six defeats in seven games, and turning back to Robertson over the past week has proved a shrewd move from Slot.

Madrid had won 13 of their previous 14 games this season, scoring 34 times along the way. But at Anfield yesterday, they were restricted to two shots on target and an xG (expected goals) figure of just 0.45.

“Too many times this season, we have had to score three goals to win games. You can’t keep doing that, it’s not sustainable,” Robertson added. “It’s about having that control, and I think we’ve got that back over the past two games.

“It’s really pleasing that we built on Saturday. From minute one, we were bang there — working hard for each other, trying to help your mate out and the quality was there as well. Their ’keeper helped to keep the score down.

“It’s important now that we become consistent. It’s another massive game on Sunday. We’ve put a lot into this week already, but we’ll go there with confidence.”

Opponents have been able to expose Liverpool down the flanks too often in the early months of this season.

With Bradley breaking off the shackles and a resurgent Robertson having the bit between his teeth, they now look a different proposition in those areas.