Bradley Barcola was making his first start for Liverpool against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday - but his night at Anfield was cut short
Bradley Barcola was replaced against Atletico Madrid
Bradley Barcola was replaced against Atletico Madrid
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Bradley Barcola has handed Liverpool a fresh injury concern after he went off during the second-half of his side’s Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid. Barcola had twice gone close to scoring in his first game at Anfield as a Reds player before he appeared to pick up a knock. But just before the hour mark, the former Paris Saint-Germain star pulled up and appeared to injure his calf. And after receiving treatment from Liverpool’s medical team and being consoled by his team-mates, he was replaced by Victor Muuoz, with his side leading 2-1 at the time.
Barcola started his Liverpool career with an appearance off the bench at Ipswich Town on Friday night.
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The forward was introduced just after the hour mark for his first minutes since he appeared in France’s third-place play-off defeat to England at the World Cup.
A protracted transfer saga with PSG finally ended last week when Barcola arrived at Anfield for an initial £106m, with a further £17m part of the package in add-ons.
When asked about the Reds’ new No.29 on the eve of his side’s game against Atletico, Andoni Iraola revealed Barcola is ‘ready to play more minutes’.
He said: “Yes, I think he played overall with extra time 31 [minutes] maybe or something like this [at Ipswich]. I think he’s ready to play more minutes.
“He has been training quite normally. The only thing is he hasn’t had the pre-season minutes that normally players have.
“We have to consider this, but I see him in a really good place. I think he can play more minutes definitely.
“I don’t see him like limited, no, I see him like a normal player with this circumstance that he hasn’t had a lot of pre-season minutes to build his form. But I saw him playing very well and I think he is ready to play more, yes.”
While ahead of kick-off, Iraola told TNT Sports: "I think it’s true that he hasn’t had the pre-season minutes, but I like what I saw from him the other day. I think he’s been training well, so I think it was a good game to put him in straight away.
"I don’t think he can probably finish the game, we’ll see how he does, but we need some freshness, and I think especially outside with Rio and Bradley, we can have these difference-makers.