Andoni Iraola outlines the “best thing” about Bradley Barcola following LASK hat-trick
The games keep coming thick and fast for Liverpool. On Wednesday evening, the Reds made it two wins out of two in the Champions League, demolishing LASK 6-3 at Raiffeisen Arena. Having been 4-0 up before die Schwarz-Weißen rallied, the win was even more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
Well, there is no rest for Andoni Iraola. Having flown back from Austria on Wednesday night, he held a press conference at AXA Training Centre on Thursday lunchtime. The Basque head coach and his squad will then travel down to London on Friday, before taking on Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to the assembled media in Kirkby, Iraola was of course asked about Bradley Barcola, following the Frenchman's hat-trick in Linz. This is was the manager had to say:
First and foremost, Iraola is right to highlight that Barcola's biggest strength right now is that he is available. The Reds have faced both Manchester City and now LASK without three of their most dangerous attackers, namely Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak, all of whom picked up injuries on international duty.
While the Hungarian midfielder could be available at the Gtech Community Stadium, the other two are still expected to remain absent for a little while. Meantime, Iraola praised Barcola's "confidence on the ball", beyond his three goals, with the 24 year old accumulating ten progressive carries, five completed dribbles, two key passes and five shots against the Austrian Bundesliga champions.
This saw him become only the eighth Liverpool player to score a Champions League hat-trick in the competition's modern-era: Micahel Owen, Yossi Benayoun, Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mané, Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and most recently Luis Díaz the others, so quite illustrious company.
The other quote from Iraola worth highlighting is that Barcola is "confident attacking spaces... they are his strengths", which anyone who watched him play for PSG or France already knew. Liverpool attackers though are not afforded such space in the Premier League, so now it is about Barcola delivering against teams who boast more quality than LASK, especially while Isak and Gakpo are in the treatment room.
The Reds' next three games, having lost to the league-leaders last Sunday, are against the teams currently completing the top four, namely Brentford, Brighton and then champions Arsenal. So, can Barcola bag his first Premier League goal in West London?
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