The night Barcola finally arrived

There is a particular kind of relief that comes with watching a big-money signing finally click into gear, and Liverpool supporters felt every bit of it on Wednesday night in Austria. Bradley Barcola, the £123m recruit from Paris Saint-Germain, scored the first hat-trick of his senior career as the Reds hammered LASK 6-3 in the Champions League, with Ronald Araujo, Jeremie Frimpong and Lewis Koumas also on the scoresheet. It was a statement of attacking intent, even if LASK are not exactly Barcola's most demanding audience to date.

For context, the Frenchman is a two-time European champion. He knows what a Champions League final feels like from the winning side. A group-stage rout of the Austrian champions will not rank among his most cherished nights. But as Paul Joyce of The Times rightly noted, "a first ever senior treble also represented his first overdue contributions since a £123m move from Paris Saint-Germain and should not only aid his acclimatisation, but encourage him to set his sights on making the difference when opponents are not quite so obliging." That feels about right. File this one under necessary rather than definitive.

What the national press made of it

The travelling press pack were largely in agreement that Barcola was the headline act, even if the verdict came with the occasional caveat about the quality of opposition. The Daily Mail's Lewis Steele called him "unplayable" and was quick to point out that he is far more than a wide runner. "He cuts inside, he can score goals, he is not selfish and enjoys link-up play, he is hard-working off the ball," Steele wrote. "Or, to summarise, he is a complete player who is a two-time European champion worth £123m for a reason." Strong words, and on the evidence of Wednesday night, not unfair ones.

The Independent's Jamie Braidwood offered an interesting counterpoint, arguing that the standout winger on the night "was arguably Rio Ngumoha, with the 18-year-old tormenting LASK throughout with his direct dribbling and trickery out wide." Braidwood acknowledged it was Barcola who provided the clinical touches inside the box, but the teenage Ngumoha catching the eye of a national journalist is a detail worth filing away. Meanwhile, Steele noted that Barcola's treble was the first away hat-trick for Liverpool since Mohamed Salah scored at Ibrox against Rangers four years ago, which tells you something about how rare a thing it remains, even for this club.

Wirtz quietly pulling the strings

If Barcola was the story the back pages ran with, Florian Wirtz was arguably the story underneath it. The Mirror's Samuel Meade was unambiguous in his assessment: "The game just looked to stand still for a second every time the German got the ball and its that type of quality Liverpool thought they'd landed last summer." Meade pointed to Wirtz constantly finding pockets of space, earning time on the ball with neat touches and putting teammates into good positions, drawing comparisons with his best work at Bayer Leverkusen.

Crucially, Meade linked the two performances together: "The pleasing thing for Iraola will be just how effective Barcola looked down the left, and that in part owed itself to the work done by Wirtz. The two worked impressively in tandem, and that's a connection those in Liverpool will hope continues to develop." That combination developing into something consistent is a far more significant prospect than a single hat-trick in Linz, and Andoni Iraola will know it.

The caveats, and what comes next

For all the justified celebration, the Echo's Ian Doyle was measured enough to note that concentration was lost defensively in the final quarter, allowing LASK to make the scoreline look closer than the match actually was. A 6-3 winning margin sounds emphatic enough, but shipping three goals to the Austrian champions is not a habit Liverpool can afford to carry into tougher European nights ahead. Doyle also reminded readers that "sterner tests than this spirited but limited LASK side await during a busy period for the Reds."

The immediate next examination arrives at Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, and Joyce's point in The Times lands squarely: that would be a good time for Barcola to prove this was a platform for consistency rather than a one-off flourish against accommodating opposition. If Barcola and Wirtz can sustain what was glimpsed in Austria, Liverpool's attack could become a very different proposition altogether.