Barcola’s Treble Papers Over Deeper Cracks in Linz

Three Up, Three Down: What Liverpool’s Goal Rush in Austria Actually Proved Nine goals in Linz made for a thrilling night on paper, and Bradley Barcola’s first Liverpool hat-trick will rightly dominate the headlines this morning.

But if we are honest with ourselves, a 6-3 win over LASK should never have been this nervy a watch.

Andoni Iraola’s side scored six and still shipped three against a team Manchester City would have put away without breaking sweat, and that contradiction, not the final scoreline, is the story worth sitting with once the initial euphoria has worn off.