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With a clarified presentation at Royal Antwerp, LASK moved one step closer to the knockout stage of the Europa League on Thursday. Even if the 1-0 win against the previous Belgian leaders in Group J was not a fun gift. The man of the night was Johannes Eggestein, who first replaced Marko Raguz, probably more seriously injured, and then scored the golden goal (54th). Coach Dominik Thalhammer applauded “a great performance”.
“You have to win games like this to have a chance to advance in the Europa League. That speaks to our current maturity,” Eggestein told “Puls 4”. After a counterattack and a token from Andreas Gruber, Bremen’s loan was off to a gentle start and received much praise from Thalhammer. “He did an excellent job, with a lot of quality and a lot of calm,” said the manager of the 22-year-old, who last celebrated his first goal for LASK in a 2-0 win over Sturm Graz.
Eggestein’s joy was also someone else’s suffering. The U21 player Raguz sprained his knee after about 40 minutes without any external influence, about which he had already had to be treated minutes before. “He is extremely bitter for Marko, he is a very important player for us,” said midfielder Peter Michorl. The exact injury suffered by Upper Austria will only be shown by an MRI exam on Friday – there is a risk of a cruciate ligament tear and a prolonged tear. “He looked bad, he’s in pain. I hope it’s not what it looks like,” Thalhammer said.
The second, though possibly not as long-lasting, had to digest LASK in the 68th minute with yellow-red for veteran James Holland. Even after that, Antwerp had no chance other than a missed promotion in injury time. “Even in the last 20 minutes we kept pushing the ball and hardly allowed anything else,” Thalhammer said with satisfaction.
Peter Michorl: “The mentality was decisive”
Even before that, his team around the defensive tower Gernot Trauner had “defended everything,” as Michorl noted. Royal, who had surprised with a 1-0 win against Tottenham the week before and didn’t find a single really good opportunity against LASK with the exception of the aforementioned siphon, acted quite unexpectedly. “We were a bit surprised that Antwerp threw their playing overboard and played long balls. But we also controlled them well. Our last line of defense was very consistent,” Thalhammer said.
On offense, LASK had few well-finished stocks to offer. “In the first 25 minutes we did relatively well, we had scoring chances that we didn’t finish or we missed,” Michorl said, describing what happened before the break. In the end, “the mentality was decisive”, the Viennese was convinced.
The promotion race in Group J is very exciting at “halftime”: the championship leaders Tottenham, Antwerp (2nd) and LASK (3rd) have six points each, last on the list is the useless Rasgrad. After a three-week break, the “second leg” against Antwerp will take place in Linz on November 26. Michorl: “It is a tremendously exciting group. Now we have a small advantage in the direct duel with Antwerp. But we know that we need that kind of performance, that kind of mentality at home. Because if we don’t achieve anything at home, then victory would be worth it. little today. “
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