Six games of silence, then a treble in Austria

Bradley Barcola had gone six appearances without a goal for Liverpool. Six matches to settle, to find his feet, to carry the weight of a £123million price tag in a new city, a new league, a new dressing room. Then, on a Wednesday evening in Austria, it all came out at once. A hat-trick in a 6-3 Champions League win at LASK, and suddenly the questions around the French winger look very different.

Barcola is only the sixth player in Liverpool's history to open their scoring account with a treble. The last to manage it was Divock Origi back in 2015, which tells you how rare a feat this is. For a player who arrived from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer as the club's second most expensive signing ever, the timing could not have been much better.

What Van Dijk sees in his new teammate

Virgil van Dijk knows better than most what it feels like to arrive at Anfield with an enormous fee attached to your name. He was the club's record buy when he signed from Southampton for £75million in January 2018, and he has not forgotten the pressures that come with that territory. So when he speaks about Barcola, there is genuine understanding behind the words.

"It's massive for him," said Van Dijk. "He's very introverted anyway. He won't express his feelings too much but everyone knows that will help him so much. Hopefully there are many more hat-tricks to come. It's about creating the environment where he can express himself on the pitch."

The captain was clear that this is not just a individual moment but something that benefits the whole squad. "As a footballer, you always want to be out there, showing what you can do. For him, scoring goals is a big part of his game. To get a hat-trick in the Champions League is a great thing for him and for us." And on his own role in helping Barcola find his footing, Van Dijk kept it simple: "Yeah, you can share experiences for sure. It's about helping each other to succeed. We're in it together. Bradley is getting into it now. He'll be absolutely fine."

Young guns steal the show while the captain watches on

Van Dijk himself was introduced from the bench in the second half alongside Joe Gomez, with Liverpool already 4-0 to the good, and he was characteristically self-deprecating about the pair's contribution once they came on. "Obviously Joe and I made it interesting after we came on after 60 minutes but sometimes these things happen," he said with a smile.

What clearly gave him the most pleasure was watching an unfamiliar starting eleven tear a Champions League opponent apart. Trey Nyoni and Lewis Koumas made their full debuts in the competition, with Koumas getting on the scoresheet, and Rio Ngumoha made only his second start. Liverpool's 19 first-half shots were the most by an away side before the interval in a Champions League match since records began in 2003. That is a statistic that speaks to an intensity and an intent that goes far beyond the result itself.

"I'm really happy for everyone," Van Dijk said. "Trey, Rio, Lewis, working so hard, and I was happy for Lewis to get that goal. Happy days. There were so many good things tonight that should get attention. The credit the young boys get is well deserved."

Saturday brings a very different kind of test

The win in Austria will rightly be celebrated, but Van Dijk was quick to remind everyone that the schedule waits for no one. "Now it's time to go recover. We don't have too much time before we face Brentford in another tough game on Saturday," he said. A Premier League fixture against Brentford is as different from a European rout as a night in Austria is from a wet Saturday afternoon, and Liverpool will need to bring a very different version of themselves.

Still, the mood around this squad looks bright. Barcola has his first goals, the youngsters are stepping up, and the captain is in the kind of relaxed, assured form that tends to filter through a whole dressing room. Whether that carries into the weekend is the real question worth watching.