Bradley Barcola claims hat-trick as Liverpool cruise to win in nine-goal thriller

On a night when Florian Wirtz looked more comfortable than he has done all season it was Barcola who sparkled

Liverpool's Bradley Barcola celebrates. Pic: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/the Press Association.

LASK 3 Liverpool 6

Bradley Barcola responded to growing but premature scrutiny of his performances to score his first Champions League hat-trick in the 6-3 win over LASK in Austria.

On a night when Florian Wirtz, the team’s only other fit £100million-plus player, looked more comfortable than he has done all season it was the winger who won this competition for the last two seasons with Paris St Germain who sparkled.

Questions had already started to be asked about the France international, probably more a reflection of the underwhelming start Andoni Iraola’s side have made, despite the £123m summer signing having played just six matches.

The 24-year-old provided the perfect riposte, scoring with either foot in the first half to open his account for the club against poor opponents making their debut among Europe’s elite.

A far-post tap-in midway through the second half was the easiest of his three but by then his confidence was soaring, having missed a trio of chances in the win over Atletico Madrid last month.

On-loan Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo made the important breakthrough with a towering header midway through the first half and 95 seconds later Barcola finally came to the party before doubling his tally before the break.

The sight of diminutive right-back Jeremie Frimpong, another player whose overall contribution as has been criticised, scoring with a 12-yard header just after half-time was probably the most surprising element of the whole night.

There was a significant drop in quality from Sunday’s opponents Manchester City to the Austrian League champions, who were the perfect foil for players in need of a confidence boost and Barcola exploited the space he was afforded.

Critics have shown little patience with the Frenchman, who suffered from having been omitted from PSG’s pre-season due to doubts over his future, but with Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai out injured he needed to step up.

That is something which cannot be levelled at 21-year-old Lewis Koumas, who on his first Champions League start had two goals disallowed for offside before finally finding the net with a well-taken first-time shot.

Iraola made four changes from Sunday with two in defence – Frimpong and Kostas Tsimikas, who claimed two assists, replacing Virgil van Dijk and Milos Kerkez – with Araujo moving into the centre, Trey Nyoni coming into midfield and Rio Ngumoha on the right wing.

But the 19 shots Liverpool had in the first half along was an indicator of how one-sided the game was.

Wirtz had one early attempt saved before picking out Barcola with a clever ball down the channel only for him to be flagged offside after he had taken a shot.

But when Araujo out-jumped Alemao to powerfully head down Tsimikas’ corner for his first goal it was followed almost immediately by Ngumoha’s threatening attack kept alive by Koumas for Barcola to sweep home a first-time shot.

Ryan Gravenberch hit the inside of the post before Barcola slotted past the goalkeeper from Wirtz’s fizzed pass.

Six minutes into the second half Frimpong headed in a Tsimikas cross and although Robert Ljubicic pulled one back Koumas’ first Champions League goal made it 6-1.

The less said about the defending for Florian Flecker’s two late goals the better but nothing could take the spotlight away from Barcola.