LASK’s Dark Side Awakens

“Very bitter!” LASK is disappointed but hoping for a miracle

Captain Sascha Horvath is frustrated by the missed opportunities.(Bild: GEPA)

LASK’s return to Europe’s top soccer competition ended on Wednesday with a bitter 0-3 loss to Celtic Glasgow, making their task ahead of next Tuesday’s playoff second leg (9 p.m. – on the sportkrone.at live ticker) incredibly difficult. The disappointment over missed opportunities at the legendary Celtic Park ran deep. “You have to score two, if not three, goals from those chances,” said coach Dietmar Kühbauer.

Even the fancy outfit was for naught. Kühbauer, who usually wears a tracksuit on the sidelines, had dressed up specially for the match in front of 55,000 spectators. But even his fashionable elegance couldn’t make up for his players’ inefficiency—and perhaps a touch of bad luck. Two close offside calls against Moses Usor and Samuel Adeniran in the first half, along with other missed opportunities by the forward duo, robbed the visitors of the fruits of their hard work.

“The result is very tough,”sa
 Kühbauer, whose team—though it had significantly less possession—started with great conviction and repeatedly threatened the opponent’s goal, but otherwise had nothing but praise. “That’s the only thing I can hold against them,” said the Burgenland native, who suffered only his third loss—and his first since March 22—in his 32nd competitive match of his second tenure at LASK. “The result is very tough. When it’s 0–3, you think to yourself, ‘there was no chance.’ But in this case, I have to say they played a really good game.”

Celtic clearly dominated possession but couldn’t create any major scoring chances. The home team, however, managed to make the most of their chances. Benjamin Nygren (26th) and Camilo Durans (38th, 67th) taught the opposition a lesson in finishing with their long-range shots, though they also benefited from sloppy defensive play by LASK. “You have to defend the second ball better—that happened twice,” Kühbauer acknowledged in light of the first two goals conceded. “That might be enough domestically, but not internationally. They ended up scoring the goals, even though we actually had the better chances.”

Horvath: “More Was Possible”
Captain Sascha Horvath, whose team has already secured a Europa League spot, also lamented not having a better starting position for the second leg. “Very, very bitter. The margin of defeat is too wide. More could have been possible,” said the Viennese player, who was still quietly hoping for a comeback: “Everything has to click in Linz. We have to stay compact at the back and close down space more quickly. And we have to convert the chances we had today.” Kühbauer, too, struck a defiant tone. “We’re not going to bury our heads in the sand. We’ll do everything in our power to pull off the impossible.”

Didi Kühbauer(Bild: GEPA)

His counterpart, Martin O’Neill, certainly has no intention of letting anything stand in the way of his “Bhoys” advancing—which, if they do, would mark their 14th appearance in the Champions League. But even the legendary Northern Irish coach spoke on Thursday of a “difficult evening” against a “really good team.” To finally capitalize on their third chance at the Champions League after 1965 (European Cup) and 2019—and to collect a participation fee of 18.62 million euros—LASK will need a minor miracle in the second leg, one way or another. “Of course there’s still hope. If Celtic can score three, so can we at home,” Adeniran stated.