Liverpool vs. Atletico Madrid: Andoni Iraola drops Bradley Barcola hint for Champions League clash

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has hinted that Bradley Barcola will be in contention to start Wednesday's Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid at Anfield.

The £106m signing from Paris Saint-Germain made his debut in last Friday's 2-0 Premier League win over Ipswich Town, coming off the bench in the 64th minute for Victor Munoz.

Barcola's brief appearance at Portman Road was his first competitive or non-competitive match since the World Cup third-placed playoff loss to England on July 18, having not featured at all for Liverpool or PSG in pre-season.

However, the attacker made a positive impact in the triumph over the Tractor Boys, creating one chance, completing five carries and registering one successful dribble during his cameo.

Speaking to the media in his pre-game press conference, Iraola insisted that Barcola was "ready" for more minutes, suggesting that he could be given 45 or 60 against Diego Simeone's side.

"He's ready to play more minutes," Iraola said. "He has been training quite normally, the only thing is he hasn't had pre-season like many players. We have to consider this, but he is in a really good place.

"He can play more minutes, definitely. I see him like a normal player with the circumstance that he hasn't had a lot of pre-season minutes to build his form. But he's ready to play more minutes."

While Barcola is good to go, Liverpool could still be missing five players for the contest with Atletico, which Hugo Ekitike (Achilles), Giovanni Leoni (knee) and Conor Bradley (knee) will definitely miss.

Federico Chiesa is also expected to spend another month in the infirmary with a back problem, although the Italy international would likely be out of favour even when fully fit.

Meanwhile, Joe Gomez (muscle) was due to begin team training with Liverpool this week, Iraola stated a few days ago, but there was no firm update on the Englishman in Tuesday's press conference.

As expected, Barcola was deployed down the left-hand side during his debut against Ipswich, even though the man he replaced - Munoz - started the fixture on the right.

Should Barcola be given a prominent starting role at Anfield in the coming months - as expected - either Cody Gakpo or Munoz will have to shift over to the right-hand side permanently.

However, Gakpo has made an exceptional start to the campaign with four goal involvements from three Premier League matches - one of his own and three assists - while Munoz has also shown bright flashes in his early days.

Alternatively, should Florian Wirtz fail to rediscover his best form, Gakpo, Munoz, Barcola and Alexander Isak could all be stationed together, in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-2-2 shape.

While Barcola's Merseyside career is just beginning, Alexis Mac Allister's could be ending, as the midfielder revealed that Liverpool have not offered him a new contract in his own press conference.

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