Liverpool cleansed themselves from the stains of defeat by Manchester City at the earliest opportunity. A rampant display in Austria saw Bradley Barcola ignite his Liverpool account with the first hat-trick of his professional career and Andoni Iraola's team devastate Lask's big night in the Champions League. The major surprise was how the hosts managed to score three.
Iraola's pre-match faith in the big-money signings Barcola and Florian Wirtz was repaid as the pair helped dismantle limited opponents. But it was not all about the money and the £123m signing from Paris Saint-Germain scoring the first goals of his Liverpool career. Lewis Koumas registered his first goal in the competition and replaced Steven Gerrard as the youngest player to score and assist in a Champions League game for Liverpool. A total of 26 shots equalled Liverpool's record in a Champions League away game.
"I'm really happy for Bradley," said the Liverpool head coach. "Yesterday you were asking me a lot about his numbers, and also Flo [Wirtz], and both of them played really well. They made a difference. Apart from the hat-trick Bradley was a threat one-v-one, helped us control the game and defended the pockets. It will do their confidence good for sure."
The home end was full and in strong voice over an hour before kick-off as Lask supporters came to savour their club's first home game in the Champions League proper. The Lask team proved to be much less impressive though, in fairness to the Austrian crowd, their support rarely wavered even as a rout unfolded before their eyes. Liverpool revelled in their superiority and the invitation to recover from Sunday's first defeat of the season.
Iraola rested Virgil van Dijk, delaying the defender's 200th game as Liverpool captain, and Alexis Mac Allister as he managed workloads ahead of Saturday's visit to Brentford. A new-look central defence of Ronald Araújo and Jérémy Jacquet were given a physical test by the Lask strikers Samuel Adeniran and Krystof Danek but handled the host's rudimental approach comfortably.
Liverpool were utterly dominant against an opponent that struggled to retain possession in all areas of the pitch. The breakthrough was inevitable but also a result of a mix-up in the Lask defence between Alemão and the goalkeeper, Lukas Jungwirth. From the second corner that followed their error, Araújo towered above his marker to head home Kostas Tsimikas's delivery. It was the Uruguay international's first Liverpool goal and the start of an onslaught.
Merely 96 seconds later it was 2-0 as Barcola also scored his first Liverpool goal. The summer recruit found himself under scrutiny ahead of the game, along with Wirtz, having gone six appearances for his new club without a goal or an assist. That issue was put to bed when Rio Ngumoha weaved in from the right and Koumas laid the ball back to the lurking winger. Barcola swept a first-time shot inside Jungwirth's far post. Liverpool were enjoying themselves.
Wirtz soon found himself with a much-needed assist for Barcola's second goal. The Germany international has looked more at home for Liverpool in the Champions League than Premier League and this was no exception. Wirtz picked out Barcola's run into the Lask area and the winger rolled a cool finish beyond the exposed keeper.
Lask could have been seriously embarrassed before half-time. Koumas had a fine finish disallowed for offside and, following another neat exchange between Wirtz and Barcola, Ryan Gravenberch's shot kissed the inside of the far post. Liverpool's 19 attempts on goal were the most by an away side in the first half of a Champions League game since records began in 2003-04.
There would be no letup from Iraola's team after the interval. Jeremie Frimpong morphed into an old-fashioned centre-forward to rise above Yvan Dibango and bury a textbook header into the bottom corner from Tsimikas's cross. Koumas had a second goal disallowed for offside before Alisson's clean sheet was ruined by the Lask substitute Robert Ljubicic sweeping home inside his near post. Barcola was presented with his hat-trick when Ngumoha released Frimpong and the full-back flashed a low cross through the Lask six-yard box. Barcola applied a simple finish at the back post.
Frimpong also supplied the assist for Koumas's deserved goal, converted from close range after the home side were caught playing out from the back. The Lask substitute Florian Flecker brought a touch of respectability to the scoreline with two goals in four minutes, both set up by Dibango, but there was no disguising the emphatic manner of Liverpool's victory nor the surge of confidence it should give to Barcola.