Andoni Iraola hopes Bradley Barcola takes confidence from hat-trick

The £123million summer signing is no stranger to success at Europe’s elite level, having won the competition the last two seasons with Paris St Germain, but in his first six appearances he was the shadow of the player the Reds thought they were buying.

But against Champions League debutants LASK Barcola sparked into life, scoring a goal with either foot before adding a simple tap in for his third in the 6-3 rout of their Austrian hosts.

“I’m really happy for Bradley because you were asking me yesterday about him not making the numbers, also Florian (Wirtz),” said Iraola.

“I think both of them today played really well. I think they made a difference. Bradley apart from the hat-trick, I think he was a threat always – one-v-one, threatening in behind.

“Also Flo helped us a lot to control the game, finding the pockets. I’m happy for both of them.

“I think their confidence, for sure, is very good. I think they feel that we trust them a lot. But at the end, to enjoy a little bit playing in the Champions League away, I think it’s going to be very good for them.”

On the difference it will make to Barcola, Iraola added: “Obviously I think he has to enjoy this because to score a hat-trick in the Champions League is always very difficult.

“Even training yesterday, I could feel he was very lively – sometimes you feel these things. You never know how he’s going to play the next day, but it wasn’t like a big surprise because we were feeling he was in a good place for the game.”

After Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, their first loss of the season, this was the ideal response against sub-standard opposition and the fact Iraola was able to rest the likes of Vigil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister ahead of the weekend trip to Brentford was also helpful.

Lewis Koumas scored his first in the Champions League, with goals also from Ronald Araujo – his maiden strike for the club – and Jeremie Frimpong, while 19-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni played 85 minutes on his second start of the season.

“You have different demands for each game and you have to try to analyse what players, not just you can rest, it’s what players can perform well against LASK and help us to win the game, what players can help us against Brentford,” added Iraola.

“But after Brentford we will play in three days against Villarreal, another very difficult Champions League game, and we will need more than 11, more than 12, more than 13.

“That’s why I’m very happy because especially the young players with less experience can give us good performances and also add some experience.

“For Trey, for Koumas to add this experience is good because then we can trust them to play more games and to help other players that probably are having more minutes.”