Bradley Barcola is in line to make his Champions League debut for Liverpool against Atletico Madrid at Anfield, and Alexis Mac Allister is expecting big things from his new teammate
Bradley Barcola is in line to make his first Champions League appearance for Liverpool
Bradley Barcola is in line to make his first Champions League appearance for Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)
Alexis Mac Allister has hailed Bradley Barcola’s “amazing” impact since joining Liverpool — and has urged him to target adding another Champions League title to his collection at the club.
Barcola could make his first start for Liverpool later as the Reds take on Atletico Madrid in their opening European game of the season at Anfield. The winger made his debut for the club during Friday’s win over Ipswich, having completed his big-money transfer from Paris Saint-Germain just a few days earlier.
The 24-year-old brings with him plenty of Champions League pedigree, having won the competition back-to-back over the last couple of seasons.
Now, he’ll be hoping he can help Liverpool to a seventh European crown, and his new teammate expects him to put his stamp on the competition once again. "He's been amazing since he came to the club," Mac Allister told TNT Sports. "He's a very quiet guy.
"He doesn't speak much English, so it's difficult to communicate with him. But on the pitch, he's really amazing. His speed, his acceleration and how he understands the game is going to be really, really important for us.
"Hopefully, if he plays, he can show it tomorrow. But I'm pretty sure that he's going to help the team in a very good way. Hopefully, he can score many, many goals and can win the Champions League again."
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Liverpool will be hoping that Friday’s win — its first under new head coach Andoni Iraola — is the start of it returning to its best following last season’s disappointment.
Mac Allister though feels there is still plenty for his side to work on, even from the victory over Ipswich.
"Definitely, it's very important, because I think in the first two games we had very good things, very positive things, but when you don't win, it's not the same,” Mac Allister said.
"So it was good to get the first win, to get some confidence. And now it's the moment to understand that we need to be consistent, because, for example, if you look at the game, I can see in the first half it was very, very good. In the second half, it wasn't that good.
Alexis Mac Allister during a Liverpool press conference
Alexis Mac Allister during a Liverpool press conference(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
"So we need to understand that it's not only 45 minutes, it's 90. And especially in a Champions League game, you have to be 100 percent focused the whole game."
He added: "We need to improve in that sense. We have very experienced players and quality players that know how it works.
"So now it's just a matter of putting everything together and showing the world what we can do. It's about understanding that we need to be focused 100% on every single game and the whole game. So it's up to us that we can show it."