Barcola Hat-Trick Fires Liverpool to 6-3 Win at LASK in Champions League
Bradley Barcola scored a hat-trick, his first goals for the club, as Liverpool beat Austrian champions LASK 6-3 at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz on Wednesday, October 14, in matchday 2 of the Champions League. It was the 13th hat-trick in Liverpool's European Cup history, according to the club.
Liverpool were 3-0 up at half-time. Ronald Araújo broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute, heading in a Kostas Tsimikas corner for his first goal for the club. Two minutes later, Rio Ngumoha made an incisive run into the LASK area and Lewis Koumas laid the ball off for Barcola, who finished clinically past goalkeeper Jungwirth. Ryan Gravenberch hit the post before Barcola scored his second in the 37th minute, after Florian Wirtz played him through. Liverpool had 19 shots in the first half, a Champions League record for an away team, and led by three at the break for the first time in the competition since April 2018, when they led Manchester City 3-0.
Jérémie Frimpong headed the fourth in off the right post in the 51st minute. Robert Ljubicic pulled one back for LASK in the 63rd minute, a minute after coming on, but Barcola completed his hat-trick in the 66th minute with a tap-in from Frimpong's low cross. Koumas made it 6-1 in the 72nd minute with a close-range finish, his first Champions League goal, again set up by Frimpong. Substitute Florian Flecker then scored twice for LASK, in the 74th and 78th minutes, to make the score 6-3.
The hat-trick came at a vital moment for Barcola, who joined from Paris Saint-Germain this summer in a deal worth up to £123 million. He had gone six appearances without scoring or setting up a goal. It was his first senior hat-trick, in his 206th senior appearance, and the first by a Liverpool player in any competition since Luis Díaz against Bayer Leverkusen in November 2024.
Liverpool were without Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai through injury, and coach Andoni Iraola started Jérémy Jacquet in defence, with Virgil van Dijk on the bench. It was Liverpool's highest-scoring European match since the 2001 UEFA Cup final, a 5-4 win over Alavés.
The result gives Liverpool two wins from two in the league phase, following their opening win over Atlético Madrid. They return to Anfield on Tuesday to play Villarreal.