On night of mayhem for Liverpool, Barcola arrives in style

On the eve of Liverpool’s meeting with LASK, manager Andoni Iraola was repeatedly asked about the fortunes of Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola.

Given their price tags, the pressure was on both to start delivering after stuttering at the start of their individual campaigns. Iraola, as most managers would, stood by his players, insisting he trusted them “100%”.

Iraola insisted the focus was on the collective rather than individual stats but there is no denying that when you spend such eye-watering sums – £116m on Wirtz and £123m on Barcola – you want those players to be match-winners.

Wirtz delivered a fine display in the Austrian city of Linz as Liverpool won 6-3, with an assist to his name.

However, this was a night where the headlines belonged to Barcola, who on the 238th appearance of his career across clubs and country combined, scored his first hat-trick.

And it was those three goals which proved to be the difference as Liverpool returned to winning ways after their 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Sunday.

In truth, the 24-year-old could have scored more; such was his quality, but he did enough to take the match ball home after two fine finishes with his right foot and left foot, followed by a tap-in after the break.

And a little over 24 hours after defending his players against those pre-match questions, Iraola was speaking with a smile on his face.

“I’m really happy for Bradley,” Iraola said.

“You were asking me yesterday about him not making the numbers and [the same with] Florian, and I think both of them played really, really well today. I think they made a difference.

“Bradley was a threat, always when one-on-one [and] certainly in behind. He helped us a lot in controlling the game by finding the pockets. I am happy for both of them.

“I think for their confidence it’s very good. I think they feel now that we trust them a lot. I think it’s going to be very good, very good for them.”

On what it could mean for Barcola, Iraola added: “I think he has to enjoy this [as] scoring a hat-trick in the Champions League is always very difficult.

“Even yesterday in training, I could feel he was very lively. Sometimes you feel these things [are going to happen]. We were feeling he was in a good place going into the game.”

Barcola will now hope to show that level in the Premier League, starting with a visit to Brentford on Saturday.

‘The acid test will be Brentford away’

Iraola’s side were relentless in the first-half against the Austrian Bundesliga champions, racing into a three-goal lead. Such was their dominance, they could have easily scored more.

The 19 shots Liverpool had by half time against LASK was the most on record since 2003-04 by any team in the first half of a Champions League away match.

If there was any criticism, it would be that they were guilty of becoming a little complacent in the second half, conceding three goals after the hour mark but in fairness, the job was all but done.

There were more positives to take on the night, with both full-backs coming into the side and performing well. Jeremie Frimpong scored and registered two assists while Kostas Tsimikas added two assists of his own.

Ronald Araujo also scored his first goal for the club since joining in the summer and Lewis Koumas got no less than he deserved when he got on the scoresheet in the second half.

The 21-year-old even had two goals ruled out for offside but his first-half assist for Barcola meant that he became the youngster player to score and assist in a Champions League match for Liverpool (21y 25d), with the previous youngest being Steven Gerrard (21y 139d v Dynamo Kyiv in 2001). Fine company, indeed.

But Liverpool will know that they won’t get many easier games than this over the course of the season. LASK came into this game, winless in their last four matches.

“What do you take from that? It’s very difficult because the game was very passive for large periods,” said Stephen Warnock on 5 Live.

”There were parts where I am watching Trey Nyoni in midfield and he has literally got no pressure on him at all, he is picking passes off.

“Barcola has got the run of his full-back who was taken off at half-time, which tells you everything.

“I don’t read too much into it, because I expected Liverpool to go there and win, and win comfortably.”

Warnock added that a bigger test for Liverpool will come at Brentford on Saturday, the Bees fourth in the table and unbeaten in the league.

“Can Barcola do that again, away at Brentford, because that is what they have essentially bought him for, to play in big games away from home,” Warnock said.

“He hasn’t played that much football this season so [this game] was about getting minutes in his legs and getting him fit and getting him sharper. The acid test will be Brentford away.”