LASK's morale and pressing secure first Champions League win

At the Estadio Jose Alvalade, Linz’s LASK displayed morale and intense pressing in its first Champions League win‑and‑draw performance, which coach Didi Kühbauer described as “one of our best performances”. In front of 48,985 spectators, the team took the lead already in the fifth minute through a controversial penalty.

Low expectations, great performance

The anticipation for the match was barely there after a 0‑1 loss to AEK Athens and a 3‑6 home defeat against Liverpool. Nevertheless, the team pressed already in the early phase, which quickly dispelled doubts about a Champions League participation.

Christoph Lang equalised in the 15th minute, Saša Kalajdžić scored the go‑ahead in the 63rd minute and Krystof Danek completed the hat‑trick in the 68th minute. Luis Suárez gave Sporting a consolation goal only in the 89th minute, but that was too late to change the result.

Kalajdžić praised his team’s reaction: “The reaction was great, every nonsense was whistled at us, so I’m proud because we defended ourselves with everything.” Kühbauer added that the high pressing exposed the opponent’s problems and that it required a lot of running work, but the team did not want to leave the pitch as losers.

The 3‑2 victory marked Sporting’s first defeat of the current season and LASK’s first Champions League win. This confirmed the fear that the Linz side had built up against the Lions over three encounters – 3‑0 in the Europa League in 2019, 4‑1 in the 2020 qualification and now this triumph. EPA/JOSE SENA GOULAO Lisbon confirmed that LASK remains the fearsome opponent of Sporting Lisbon.

Position and outlook

After three rounds, LASK sits in 24th place in the table and has already reached the playoff zone.

The focus now shifts to the Bundesliga match against Red Bull Salzburg next Sunday as well as the home game against Slovan Bratislava on November 3, where further Champions League points are sought.

Before the duel, the Linz side were still considered unsuccessful and were aiming for their first point; the match took place on Wednesday at 21:00 live on Canal+ in the third round of the group stage at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon. Sporting had already extracted the maximum from two previous appearances and had been eliminated in the quarter‑finals against Arsenal half a year ago.