Koumas' rise something for Liverpool to smile about

Lewis Koumas on breaking Steven Gerrard's record, seizing his opportunity under Andoni Iraola, and why he couldn't sleep after playing Manchester City. Lewis Koumas became the youngest player to score and assist in a Champions League match for Liverpool The first player to celebrate with Lewis Koumas in front of the travelling supporters in Linz was Liverpool's hat-trick hero in Bradley Barcola. This time last season, Koumas was on loan at Birmingham in the Championship while Barcola was at Paris St-Germain, who went on to win the Champions League for the second season in a row. Quite a chain of events led to the pair starting together for Liverpool in their 6-3 win over LASK.

And as Barcola left the Raiffeisen Arena with the match ball after a superb hat-trick, the Frenchman knew that he wasn't the only player who put the ball in the net three times on Wednesday in Austria. Koumas had his first two strikes ruled out for offside, but thankfully it was third time luck for the 21-year-old Wales international. And so, just three days after making his first Premier League start against Manchester City – with Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike all injured – Koumas became the youngest Liverpool player to score and assist in a Champions League game. Previously, the youngest to