Barcola hat-trick sinks LASK in 6-3 thriller

Bradley Barcola ended his goal drought with a hat-trick as Liverpool beat LASK 6-3 in the Uefa Champions League on Wednesday.

The £123 million (± R3 billion) summer signing had been criticised after six scoreless appearances, but responded in Austria..

Ronald Araujo headed the Reds ahead from Kostas Tsimikas’ corner in the 22nd minute for his first club goal before Barcola made it 2-0 less than two minutes later before combining with Florian Wirtz to score his second in the 37th.

Jeremie Frimpong headed the fourth after the break. Barcola completed his treble from Frimpong’s pass in the 66th before Lewis Koumas smashed in the sixth.

LASK hit back through Robert Ljubicic and two Florian Flecker goals, but Liverpool made it two wins from two.

Barcola’s former club, PSG, were victors in the night’s most-watched clash against Manchester City.

The Parisians overcame the Citizens by four goals to two at the Etihad with goals from Desiree Doue, Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha and Maghnes Akliouche.

In Wednesday’s other games, Real Madrid came back from behind twice to beat Roma 4-3 while Aston Villa dismantled Fenerbahce 6-0 at Villa Park.

Atletico Madrid beat Manchester United 2-0 on Tuesday to deepen the pressure on Michael Carrick, while Bayern Munich were held to a dramatic 3-3 draw by Viking Stavanger.

Elsewhere, Arsenal beat Lille 3-0, Barcelona came from behind to win 4-1 at Galatasaray and Club Brugge won 4-3 at Inter Milan.