Barcola hat-trick fires Liverpool to 6-3 win at LASK
Bradley Barcola scored the first hat-trick of his career as Liverpool beat LASK 6-3 in the Champions League in Linz on Wednesday, 14 October.
The 24-year-old winger struck with his right foot and his left foot before half-time, then tapped in after the break to complete the treble, three goals in one game. Those were his first goals for Liverpool, arriving on his 238th career appearance for club and country combined, according to Reuters. Teenager Rio Ngumoha supplied the pass for the third, which put Liverpool 4-0 up at the Raiffeisen Arena.
It was ruthless. And it was needed.
Liverpool arrived in Austria having lost 3-0 to Manchester City in their previous match. Manager Andoni Iraola picked an attacking side and they flew out of the blocks, with 19 shots by half-time. That is the most on record since 2003-04 by any visiting team in the first half of a Champions League match.
Florian Wirtz, one of Liverpool's two big-money summer attackers, claimed an assist in the rout. The BBC reported Liverpool paid £116m for Wirtz and £123m for Barcola.
Jeremie Frimpong scored once and set up two more. Kostas Tsimikas also provided two assists from the left. Ronald Araujo headed his first goal for the club, while Lewis Koumas came off the bench to score in the second half and had two other efforts ruled out for offside, when a player is beyond the last defender as the ball is played.
Koumas still left with a record. At 21 years and 25 days, he became the youngest Liverpool player to both score and assist in a Champions League game. He passed Steven Gerrard's mark of 21 years and 139 days, set against Dynamo Kyiv in 2001.
LASK, an Austrian side and newcomers to the Champions League, had gone four matches without a win before Liverpool's visit. The game was a league phase tie, part of the competition's opening stage where every team plays eight different opponents for a place in the knockouts.
What makes this stand out is the timing for Barcola. He became the 13th Liverpool player to score a European Cup hat-trick, and UEFA named him Player of the Match. After a heavy league defeat, Liverpool's forwards gave their fans a night to sing about again.
