Virgil van Dijk believes Bradley Barcola's Champions League hat-trick will make a "massive" difference to the forward and is helping the new Liverpool man cope with his £123million price tag.
Barcola scored his first goals for the Reds with a well-taken treble in their 6-3 Champions League win at LASK in Austria on Wednesday evening. The 24-year-old had failed to find the target in his first six appearances for the club since arriving from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.
Van Dijk's verdict on Barcola's breakthrough
While explaining Barcola has not yet been one to overly show his emotions, Van Dijk is convinced the three-goal haul will prove a spark for the France international.
"It's massive for him," he said. "He's very introverted anyway. He won't express his feelings too much but everyone knows that will help him so much. Hopefully there are many more hat-tricks to come.
"It's about creating the environment where he can express himself on the pitch. As a footballer, you always want to be out there, showing what you can do. For him, scoring goals is a big part of his game. To get a hat-trick in the Champions League is a great thing for him and for us."
A rare feat and a club record
Barcola is only the sixth player to open their Liverpool scoring account by netting a hat-trick, with Divock Origi in 2015 the most recent previous Red to achieve the feat. In August he became the second most expensive player in Liverpool's history when signing for an initial fee of £106m with £17m in possible add-ons.
Van Dijk was once the club's record buy when transferring from Southampton for £75million in January 2018 and can relate to the pressures facing the new arrival.
"Yeah, you can share experiences for sure," he said. "It's about helping each other to succeed. We're in it together. Bradley is getting into it now. He'll be absolutely fine."
Youngsters impress in Austria
Liverpool's 19 shots in the first half were the most by an away team before the interval in a Champions League match since such records began in 2003, although Van Dijk was restricted to a second-half cameo when introduced from the bench alongside fellow centre-back Joe Gomez with the Reds 4-0 ahead.
The captain was impressed with the contribution of an untried starting line-up, with Trey Nyoni and goalscorer Lewis Koumas making their full debut in the Champions League and Rio Ngumoha only his second start in the competition.
"I'm really happy for everyone," he said. "Trey, Rio, Lewis, working so hard, and I was happy for Lewis to get that goal. Happy days. There were so many good things tonight that should get attention. The credit the young boys get is well deserved.
"Obviously Joe and I made it interesting after we came on after 60 minutes but sometimes these things happen. Now it's time to go recover. We don't have too much time before we face Brentford in another tough game on Saturday."
