Liverpool news: Barcola's hat-trick and the win that answered the City criticism

Liverpool travelled to the Raiffeisen Arena needing a response to the 3-0 loss to Manchester City and got one in emphatic style, beating LASK 6-3 to make it two wins from two in the Champions League league phase after the opening-night victory over Atletico Madrid at Anfield.

Barcola, signed from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, had gone six games without scoring and then took three in a single evening, the first senior hat-trick of his career.

Ronald Araujo opened the scoring before Barcola struck twice more before half-time, with Jeremie Frimpong heading a fourth and Lewis Koumas adding a fifth. LASK scored three of their own on a night when nobody in the away end or the home dugout needed convincing, even if the hosts' goal tally raised a few eyebrows.

ThisIsAnfield's player ratings handed Barcola a 9 out of 10, with three further Reds rated 8, while David Lynch picked out several standout individual performances on his YouTube channel afterwards.

AnfieldIndex's man of the match was also Barcola, though even the writer who predicted LASK 1-2 Liverpool admitted the Reds had other ideas.

Andoni Iraola revealed that he picked up something in training the day before the LASK game, telling reporters he 'could feel' that Bradley Barcola was about to produce something special.

The summer signing's reported fee has been quoted anywhere between £106m and £123m depending on the breakdown, which only sharpened the scrutiny on a player who had not scored in his first six appearances. He has now given Iraola three goals in ninety minutes and a settled place on the left of the front three.

The manager's public backing has never wavered, and after a blank opening spell it looks like the right call. The next question is whether the Frenchman can reproduce this against a Premier League defence rather than an Austrian one.

TNT's commentator described one Liverpool player as a 'livewire' who had LASK 'absolutely frightened to death', with Ronald Araujo's early goal setting the tone for a defence that refused to sit back. Araujo, alongside Frimpong at the back, was among the names handed 8 out of 10 by ThisIsAnfield.

Empire of the Kop also caught one Reds player fuming about a moment in the 63rd minute, even in a game that was long settled at four goals to the club. Elsewhere, Stephen Warnock questioned Iraola's risk-taking in starting Alisson for a Champions League game that turned into a nine-goal scramble.

That debate will not go away quietly, and Iraola will have to weigh it against the Sunday visit to Brentford.

Ian Doyle's verdict from Austria was that Iraola's faith had been repaid by the summer signings, with Barcola's hat-trick and the broader attacking display delivering an emphatic answer to the critics. Doyle's player ratings made Barcola the stand-out at 9/10 with three teammates on 8.

AnfieldWatch went further down the Fernando Torres line, arguing the club has finally found a striker in that mould, while another piece lauded Barcola as good enough to complete Iraola's midfield rebuild alongside the French contingent.

AnfieldWatch also published a separate opinion claiming an 'outstanding' Liverpool star is finished, another of those transfer-driven pieces that tend to appear the morning after a good win.

ThisIsAnfield's talking points noted a sharp rise in Florian Wirtz's confidence and pointed to Brentford as the real test of whether this attack can function in the Premier League.

Andoni Iraola made four changes for the trip to LASK, the biggest of them leaving Virgil van Dijk on the bench in what was widely read as a shock.

The rotation came with a clear logic, protecting the centre-back after a demanding run of fixtures and trusting the midfield and front line that had started the Champions League campaign with a win over Atletico Madrid. It worked, with the hosts dismantled from the outset and the lead three goals to nil by half-time.

The pressure now shifts to the depth chart, because the league phase does not pause and Brentford is next on the calendar.