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Iraola plays down Barcola injury fears after Atletico clash
10th September, 2026 07:43 AM
Liverpool’s new signing Bradley Barcola gave the club a brief scare during Wednesday night’s Champions League encounter with Atletico Madrid after being taken off during the second half on Wednesday night, September 9, 2026.
Manager Andoni Iraola, however, moved quickly to dismiss concerns that the France international had suffered a serious injury, explaining that the winger was only struggling with cramps.
He said, “No, it’s cramps. It’s just cramps; there is no injury. With Bradley, it’s about building his physical condition.
“We don’t really know, or we didn’t know until now probably, how much he can play, because he hasn’t had any minutes in pre-season for PSG.
“He played 30 the other day. Today we had some question marks about how many minutes he can give us, and probably now we know.
“And I’m very happy because he has also had two very clear chances against the keeper. He hasn’t scored, but I want him there. That is where he has to make the difference – arriving to those spots, those positions.
“And I’m very happy because I don’t know how many minutes he’s played; two times against the keeper is a good sign with Bradley.” He said.
Barcola, who joined Liverpool from Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth £123 million, equivalent to roughly Ksh21.6 billion, was making his first start for the club when he appeared to experience discomfort in his calf.
Liverpool down Atletico
Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister were on the scoresheet to give the Reds a 2-1 comeback success in the league-phase clash against their Spanish opponents at Anfield after a shaky start to the new Premier League season.
Following the game, the head coach Andoni Iraola gave his thoughts on the result and more to reporters in a press conference. On what he said at half-time to his players, Iraola said:
“Yes, I think today I have to blame myself a little bit for the start of the game. I think Atletico has used a structure that they haven’t used before this season, and it has cost us a little bit to match up properly. I think until we conceded the goal, we’ve had a couple of minutes where we’ve adjusted things, and [then] we match up much better. It was the moment where we started playing better.”
“Obviously after half-time, you have more time [then], [but] everything was better set. In the second half I think we were the best team. I think the team [and] the players have shown big character – big character. Also, the crowd has helped us massively in the second half. You know, in these kinds of nights you are there doing your job, but you also can enjoy it.” He stated.
