Bradley Barcola will be seeking to get his Liverpool career up and running in the Champions League at LASK
Bradley Barcola of Liverpool (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Bradley Barcola of Liverpool (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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The Champions League final became something of an annual event for Bradley Barcola during his time at Paris Saint-Germain.
But such pomp and circumstance will be far from the mind of the Frenchman as he takes his latest step towards a third successive appearance in European club football’s showpiece event in Austria against LASK this evening.
Another underwhelming display in Sunday’s miserable 3-0 Premier League defeat at home to Manchester City has increased the scrutiny on Barcola and his £123million summer move to Anfield.
With no goals or assists during his first six games, it has been far from the ideal beginning for the 24-year-old, who has already spoken of the difficulties in adapting to the intensity of the Premier League.
Indeed, the last time Barcola created a goal at club level came exactly six months ago when setting up Ousmane Dembele to net in the last minute for PSG in their 2-0 quarter-final win at Liverpool and seal a 4-0 aggregate success that edged Arne Slot nearer the Anfield exit.
True, there was a strike for the attacker in his final Ligue 1 outing against Paris FC, along with three goals and an assist for France at this summer’s World Cup.
But his barren opening to life with Andoni Iraola’s side will surely be causing more than a twinge of anxiety for player and club given the pressure and expectation inevitably associated with his enormous price tag.
While Barcola is understandably still getting his feet under the table at a new club in a new country under a head coach similarly adapting to Anfield life, the France international isn’t being helped by the perception of Liverpool’s two big-money signings that arrived before him.
Neither Alexander Isak nor Florian Wirtz have reached anywhere near the level expected given their respective £125m and £116m fees, with Isak again absent when the Reds step out at the Raiffeisen Arena looking to build on the opening matchday’s 2-1 home win over Atletico Madrid.
Given in-form Cody Gakpo and key midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai also remain missing, Barcola will be asked to lean on the experience of 44 games in the Champions League - 32 as a starter - that has brought six goals and nine assists.
That Atletico triumph was Barcola’s first Liverpool start, and the chance he pushed wide when sent clear by Wirtz that evening remains the nearest he has come to finding the target for the Reds.
A lack of end product was a regular complaint during his time in Ligue 1 with the French media again noting the shortcoming after Barcola was hooked by France as they trailed in their UEFA Nations League clash at home to Belgium last week. His replacement, former PSG team-mate Desire Doue, equalised within minutes and then assisted to more goals as Zinedine Zidane’s side ultimately won 4-1.
Barcola hasn’t been helped by being shuttled from left flank to right and even spent part of the second half against City playing down the centre of the attack.
And Milos Kerkez admits the Frenchman will benefit from greater understanding with his team-mates as he looks to build up a relationship with Barcola down the forward's preferred left wing.
"He arrived, he’s played a few games but he needs a bit more time – everyone needs it at a club like this," said Kerkez. "He is a real talent.
"How good is he in training? Good. Real good! He showed it at PSG, he’s got real skills and he can help us a lot, scoring goals and going forward.
"The thing is we should talk more and get that connection. I know he’s going to help us and we can have those combinations down the left. We will be in a good way and we are going to get better.
"You have to help new players outside of the pitch, you have to get to know them."
Bizarrely, none of the Reds’ last 44 games in European competition have ended in a draw, while they haven’t had a stalemate outside the knockout stages of the Champions League since 2006, a run of 82 matches.
LASK’s remarkable comeback in the final qualifying play-off round against Celtic - 3-0 down from the first leg and a goal behind early in the return but recovering to win 5-4 on aggregate - means Liverpool will be on their guard to avoid another damaging setback after the sobering reverse against City.
However, the Austrians opened the league stage with a 1-0 loss at AEK Athens and haven’t won any of their last four games, and have kept only one clean sheet in their last 10 matches.
It says much about the rate of change at Liverpool in recent times that of the 22 players who were in the matchday squad for the 3-1 win at Linz in the Europa League just over three years ago, more than half are no longer at the club.
Ryan Gravenberch made his full debut in that fixture, and will be expected to start this time around given his forthcoming suspension for the forthcoming trip to Brentford following his contentious dismissal at the weekend.
But the focus will be on Barcola this evening. It would be the ideal time for the France international to begin justifying his price tag - and the faith shown in him by Iraola.
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