Bradley Barcola struck his first goals for Liverpool – and took home the match ball – as they made it two victories from two in the league phase of the Champions League with a lively success over Austrian champions LASK at the Raiffeisen Arena on Wednesday night.

Fellow summer arrival Ronald Araújo, who also found the net for the Reds for the first time, opened the scoring, prior to Barcola’s double before the interval putting Andoni Iraola’s team firmly in charge.

Jeremie Frimpong’s header made it four early in the second half but, on the occasion of their first ever home game in the Champions League proper, the Linz-based outfit still managed to contribute sizeably to the spectacle as three goals from substitutes – via three Yvan Dibango deliveries – gave the scoreline a livelier look.

Robert Ljubičić made it 4-1 within moments of his 62nd-minute introduction and, following Barcola’s hat-trick goal and Lewis Koumas’ richly deserved first in senior European club competition, taking the visitors’ total to six, fellow substitute Florian Flecker notched a late brace for Dietmar Kühbauer's men to take the final score to a slightly dizzying 6-3.

Liverpool’s highest-scoring European outing since their 5-4 UEFA Cup final win over Spanish side Alavés in May 2001 – and the ninth that night came in extra time.

A piece of history that, perhaps, reflects the engaging nature of the Merseysiders’ current context in the early stages of Iraola’s time as head coach. Intensity in and out of possession and attacking verve look to be on the up and bringing rewards.

Questions around the defensive set-up and game-management will understandably arise from the late concessions – there was a concerning porousness on display as the clock ticked down – but the spate of second-half substitutions likely played their part in shifting the match’s direction.

There have, largely, been steady signs of development and improved coherence across the nine competitive contests the 44-year-old Basque has overseen since his arrival from Bournemouth in June, which have now brought five wins, three draws and one defeat across all competitions.

Off the back of that first reversal on Sunday – a somewhat chastening 3-0 loss to Premier League pacesetters Manchester City in that uniquely framed Anfield meeting, which changed direction considerably upon Ryan Gravenberch’s 62nd-minute red card when the score was still 0-0 – this felt like a healthy response.

A welcome one, too, with a testing-looking league trip to Brentford next up on Saturday afternoon and Villarreal visiting Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Story of the match

Iraola made four changes to the side that lost to City, as Jeremie Frimpong, Kostas Tsimikas, who captained the side, Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha came in for Virgil van Dijk, Miloš Kerkez, Alexis Mac Allister and Víctor Muñoz.

Kühbauer also made four alterations from his team’s own home defeat on Sunday against current Austrian Bundesliga leaders, Rapid Wien. That saw George Bello, Robert Ljubičić, Sascha Horvath and former Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Saša Kalajdžić make way for Dibango, Kryštof Daněk, Alessandro Schöpf and Samuel Adeniran.

An even opening 10 minutes, in which Frimpong and the hosts’ Kasper Jørgensen each steered 20-yard efforts over, Daněk was well challenged by Tsimikas as he looked to head home an inviting cross and the familiarly tireless Lewis Koumas rounded LASK goalkeeper Lukas Jungwirth but saw his subsequent cross intercepted, soon made way for Liverpool dominance – and chances aplenty.

Wirtz, pleasingly for many, was a leading figure in setting that tone. The 23-year-old jinked cleverly between Jørgensen and Melayro Bogarde before seeing a low shot saved, and a nice exchange with Koumas led to the German having a deflected effort gathered.

Araújo then headed Tsimikas’ 18th-minute outswinging corner wide just four minutes prior to nodding one home to set the Merseysiders on their way and register his first goal for the club that he joined on loan from Barcelona in the summer.

It was a superb leap and conversion into the bottom-right corner by the Uruguayan defender, who has proven a popular and astute addition – primarily at right-back thus far, but also at centre-back, where he was stationed on this occasion before making way for Joe Gomez just after the hour mark.

Tsimikas made a notable forward step here too, having struggled against Fulham last month in his only previous club start this term. This first of two assists for the Greek left-back came soon after an excellent challenge on Adeniran thwarted the American forward’s dangerous burst into the box.

Groundwork laid, the visitors wasted no time in building the lead further as Barcola opened his Reds account in the 24th minute.

The French winger, who arrived from French and European champions Paris Saint-Germain for over £100 million late in the summer transfer window, swept a superbly sharp 15-yard finish inside the left-hand post following excellent work from Ngumoha and Koumas to create the opening.

Chances kept coming for Iraola’s increasingly free-flowing charges. Koumas netted his first of two that would be ruled out for offside, Gravenberch struck the inside of the post, and Barcola saw an effort deflected over following a stylish nutmeg on Adeniran, before the 24-year-old coolly dispatched his second.

On 36 minutes, he took an incisive Wirtz pass nicely in his stride with his right foot before finding the bottom-right corner with his left. That combination, between the two big-money attackers who have drawn their share of criticism since Sunday, will have likely been as satisfying as any for Iraola and Co.

An assertive first half was followed by a somewhat chaotic, yet immensely entertaining, second.

Frimpong rose superbly to head home Tsimikas’ nicely flighted delivery within six minutes of the restart, but there were increasing signs of attacking joy for LASK, who lost their opening league phase game at AEK Athens last month and also faced the Reds in the 2023/24 Europa League group stage.

Christoph Lang had shot just wide shortly before Frimpong struck, and Alisson Becker got down to his left brilliantly to keep out Daněk’s powerful effort on the hour mark, but two minutes later, the hosts were on the board.

Substitutions contribute to chaos

The impressive centre-back partnership of Araújo and Jérémy Jacquet came off for Gomez and club captain Van Dijk, who had been afforded a rare and potentially valuable rest from the start, at the same time as Bogarde made way for Ljubičić for the hosts.

Within seconds, the latter was sweeping a low effort into the net after controlling Dibango’s low cross. That cued a notable uptick in Die Schwarz-Weißen’s energy levels, and made Barcola completing his treble three minutes later all the more timely.

The No.29 arrived bang on time at the far post to side-foot Frimpong’s ideally directed low delivery from the right into an open net. He, and all associated with the Anfield club, will surely be delighted that he is off the mark for his new employers in such emphatic fashion.

And the next scorer will have been similarly popular. Koumas, such a live wire on Sunday, here and whenever he’s taken to the field this term, scored his first Champions League goal on 71 minutes when he guided home another Frimpong cross right-footed.

The second time he’s found the net for the senior Liverpool side, a little over two-and-a-half years after his first. The academy graduate has been out on loan at Stoke City, Birmingham City and Hull City since – quite the journey to this point and one that looks to have contributed to an admirably evident appreciation of the application required at the top level.

Two assists and a goal for Frimpong were reflective of a productive night for the Dutchman who, like fellow full-back Tsimikas, has also endured a testing start to 2026/27, but he was too easily and too often outmanoeuvred by LASK left wing-back Dibango – who himself was given a rough evening going in the other direction by Ngumoha.

This was, it is fair to say, a cheerier night for attacking football than the more pragmatic varieties.

The scoring was completed by Flecker’s late brace as he first headed home Dibango’s unselfish square pass in the 74th minute and then cleverly steered his precisely curled cross in the 77th back across Alisson and into the bottom-left corner.

A night of relative chaos. A night of history. Certainly a night of entertainment. One, as well, that both sides ought to be able to take plenty of encouragement from, alongside some useful lessons.

Player of the match: Bradley Barcola

A big evening for the France international.

He took his three very different goals with a promising authority and looked increasingly confident as the contest progressed and his influence grew.

There was, significantly, more electricity to his play than we have seen in many of his recent showings. Two key passes, 10 progressive carries, five successful dribbles from the 10 attempted – all numbers that have the potential to bode well.

While the level of opposition the likes of him and Wirtz will face over the bulk of the coming weeks and months will be higher and less hospitable, this is a night that could prove invaluable in his Liverpool career.