Barcola must get used to Liverpool highs and lows, says Iraola after hattrick against LASK

Bradley Barcola celebrates after scoring one of his three goals in Liverpool’s 6-3 Champions League win over LASK on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AP

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola said Bradley Barcola must learn to handle the attention that comes with such a big transfer fee, after the Frenchman scored his first goals for the club in a Champions League hat trick against LASK.

Barcola’s Liverpool career had started quietly following his reported GBP 123 million move from Paris Saint Germain. On Wednesday, however, he came alive against the Austrian champion, helping Iraola’s side to a 6-3 victory.

“Football is like this. You win a game, you are incredible; you have a bad performance, you are a disaster,” said Iraola at his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Brentford.

“It is going to be like this for Bradley, for everyone who works in football. We have to assume this.”

Barcola’s adaptation to a new league and teammates has not been helped by injury troubles forcing Iraola into constant changes.

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Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Dominik Szoboszlai have sat out the last two games because of injuries sustained while away with their national teams. All three are in doubt for Saturday’s visit to Brentford.

“Now it is a matter of finding the best condition and best connection with team-mates, the level of understanding, the work of everyone, when to attack the spaces,” Iraola added on Barcola’s adaptation.

“The more he plays with us, the more he plays with his team-mates, the better he will become.”

Iraola also disclosed that centre back Giovanni Leoni’s comeback from a lengthy knee injury has been pushed back again.

The Italian tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on his club debut in September last year.

“Talking to the medical department it wasn’t just an ACL. It was a bad injury, a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL,” said Iraola.

“The plan now is he starts in the next international break. It’s not that far off, but a little bit later than we expected.”