Europa League: LASK sweeps the group stage again

Linz took the lead early in the empty Alvalade Stadium after a corner kick from Gernot Trauner (14th), but received the equalizer before the break from Tiago Tomas (42nd). But Marko Raguz (58th), Peter Michorl (65th) and Andreas Gruber (68th) set the course for the Upper Austrians in eleven minutes. Sebastian Coates saw the red card in front of the goal of Michorl (63.). It was only the second victory for an ÖFB club in Portugal, in 2015 SCR Altach also won 4-1 in the EL classification in Vitoria Guimaraes.

While Salzburg are involved in the premier class, with WAC, Rapid and LASK there are three other national teams in the Europa League. For these clubs, eyes will be on Nyon on Friday. There, the European Football Association will draw the group stage of the second competition of the European Cup at 1:00 p.m.

Third duel in a year

The duel between Sporting and LASK took place for the third time in twelve months. Last season, the two clubs dueled in the Europa League group stage, LASK, as the best team, lost 2-1 in Lisbon, the athletes retaliated with a 3-0 win in Linz, which gave the debutant a sensational victory. in group D against Sporting, PSV Eindhoven and Rosenborg Trondheim.

Sporting had to fight the corona virus in the run-up to the match, without goalkeeper Renan Ribeiro and left-back Cristian Borja. LASK shook before the game from the use of regulars James Holland and Petar Filipovic. LASK coach Dominik Thalhammer, who celebrates his 50th birthday on Friday, was able to offer both and thus his current squad.

The standard situation brings leadership

LASK came to Portugal with a lot of self-confidence, having defeated Slovakian championship leader Dunajska Streda 7-0 in the third round at the Gugl the week before. In the league, too, things have gone as expected with two wins and a draw, something that the Linzers also radiated at the José Alvalade Stadium.

Before the game, Thalhammer spoke in an interview with ORF about a tough opponent, but one who is close to LASK. That was indeed the case in the initial phase. The compact guests kept strong opponents at bay and even used their best weapons for an early advantage: pressing and a set piece. Peter Michorl brought the corner kick from the right into the six-yard box, Andreas Gruber extended it with his head and captain Gernot Trauner nodded relatively alone on second pole (14th).

However, the goal was also a wake-up call for the Portuguese. Until that moment, the local team was not at all offensive, after which it gradually approached the tie. The first real scoring opportunity came not only from an offside position, it also occurred after about half an hour. Sporting forward Luciano Vietto missed LASK goalkeeper Alexander Schlager (27th) with his low shot from about eleven meters.

Sports scores to match

While LASK subsequently radiated limited danger with shots from Gruber (30th) and Husein Balic (35th), Vietto received an ideal serve with a pass into the depths, but his cross pass went to Feind instead of Freund (39th). ). However, three minutes later Sporting managed to equalize: Filipovic made Nuno Santos hit his center on the right side, LASK center was messed up, so Tiago Tomas was able to reach 1 with a clear gap to Philipp Wiesinger and Reinhold Ranftl against Schlager’s run. : Bowl at 1 (42). As Trauner chased the ball over the goal from a promising position after a throw-in, this result also went to the locker room.

Neither of the two coaches changed their starting eleven from the beginning of the second half. The initial phase was now more balanced, but only about ten minutes, because then the LASK really started spinning. Ranftl first fired the first warning shot in the second half (56th).

Ten furious minutes

Then Raguz appeared: the forward of the ÖFB-U21 team took a Ranftl cross from the right and sank the leather with the shin in the right corner to lead the guests again (58).

Just seven minutes later, the next decisive trick followed. Balic was brought down by captain Coates on the way to goal, and Belarusian referee Aleksey Kulbakov had no choice but to get the red card. Free throw specialist Peter Michorl seized the favor after just over an hour and converted Tormanneck to 3-1 (65th).

This broke the resistance of the proud Portuguese, Gruber rewarded his performance with the final point in this game, and it was also worth watching. The former Mattersburger was brought down by Filipovic and edged goalkeeper Antonio Adan 4: 1 (68th). Balic (72nd), substitute Patrick Plojer (83rd) and Raguz (93rd) even missed opportunities for a bigger victory. The Linz delegation was able to celebrate the final 20 minutes a long time ago, not only entering the group stage, but also the successful rematch of the bitter 2-1 defeat a year ago.

Voices for the game:

Dominik Thalhammer (LASK coach): “I am very happy for the team, but also for the support team. We have invested a lot and now we can reap the benefits. It is a great achievement, even if there has been a difficult situation in the game. We were aware that every meter in pressure can be decisive in the game, the team implemented it very well ”.

Peter michorl (LASK player): “We are absolutely delighted. We had some problems in the first half, then we said at halftime that we had to play more aggressively and take advantage of the opportunities, we did. Trauner is extremely powerful and has a strong head butt, a crazy weapon for us. Now we are going to celebrate a bit, and Rapid is waiting for us on Sunday, we want to survive there too. “

Gernot Trauner (LASK player): “A lot of things turned out exactly as we imagined. We started very well, then we lost control a bit, but then we attacked at the right time. The second half was outstanding. We had the difficult road to the group stage, but we absolutely deserved it. “

UEFA Europa League, Play-off

Thursday:

Sporting Lisbon – LASK 1: 4 (1: 1)

Lisbon, José Alvalade Stadium, SR Kulbakow (BLR)

Sequence of objectives:
0: 1 Trauner (14th)
1: 1 Tiago Tomás (42.)
1: 2 Raguz (58.)
1: 3 Michorl (65.)
1: 4 Gruber (68.)

Sports: Adan – Neto, Coates, Feddal – Porro, Wendel, Nunes (71./Sporar), Nuno Mendes – Vietto (67./Pote), Tiago Tomas, Nuno Santos (78./Antunes)

LASK: Schlager – Filipovic (78./Andrade), Trauner, Wiesinger – Ranftl, Netherlands, Michorl (87./Grgic), Renner – Gruber (74./Plojer), Raguz, Balic

Memory card: Coates (63./Sporting/Torraub)

Yellow cards: Neto, Porro, Pote or Michorl

LASK is in the group stage of the Europa League (draw on Friday at 1pm in Nyon)