On the back of the 4-1 victory over Alashkert in the opening match of the group stages, MD2 of the Conference League takes Maccabi Tel Aviv to Austria where they face LASK at Klagenfurt. Shortly before the match, we took time to get to know who seems on paper as the toughest hurdle we face in Group 1.
While Maccabi were drawn from the second seeded pot, LASK were drawn from the first as the Austrian club who are based in the city of Linz ended last season fourth in their domestic table. Despite ending the regular season in third place, LASK finished the Austrian Playoffs in fourth to earn a European berth. They began their Conference League campaign in the 3rd qualifying round where they knocked Serbian outfit Vojvodina and recorded a comfortable 7-1 aggregate victory. Scottish side St. Johnstone were LASK’s opponents in the Playoffs before qualification to the group stages was secured thanks to a 2-0 victory in the return at Scotland and a 3-1 aggregate win.
A Round of 16 encounter with Manchester United
The Austrian side are making their fourth successive appearance in a European group stage as LASK played in the last two seasons in the EUROPA League. In 2019/20 LASK had an impressive run that saw them reach the Round of 16 where they were knocked out by Manchester United, losing the 1st leg in Austria 5-0 and the return leg at Old Trafford 2-1. Last season LASK finished third in their group behind Tottenham Hotspur and Antwerp.
LASK beat Admira Wacker at the weekend to move into 6th in the table with 10 points from 9 matches.t. In Europe, the Austrians began the group stage on a high note with a 2-0 victory over HJK Helsinki in Finland on MD1.
Photo: LASKOfficial Facebook ()
The stadium
LASK hosts their home league matches at the TGW Arena but in Europe they travel 4 hours to Klagenfurt where they will host Maccabi at the Wörthersee Stadion. The 30,000 capacity stadium located at the Sportpark in Klagenfurt was one of the venues used during the 2008 EURO’s hosted in Austria and Switzerland.
Managerial and squad changes
LASK’s indifferent start in the Austrian league led to the recent parting company from Dominik Thalhammer whose 38-year-old assistant Andreas Wieland was appointed as Head Coach.
The squad of LASK consists mostly of local Austrian players yet have 11 foreign players from 10 different nationalities. LASK’s senior striker, is 22-year-old Frenchman Mamoudou Karamoko n. Last season’s top scorer Johannes Eggenstein who scored 20 goals in all competitions ended his loan spell from Werder Bremen and left in the summer.
Photo: LASKOfficial Facebook ()
Two players who also left LASK at the end of last season were Danish midfielder Mads Madsen to join Slavia Prague and central defender Gernot Trauner who was signed by Dutch giants Feyenoord. At the heart of defence LASK added Dario Maresic on loan from Stade Reims with the Austrians’ attacking midfield led by Thomas Goiginger and Husein Balic.
Andreas Gruber who scored 10 goals last season and is regarded as a key player, has been suffering from a long term injury since February. Two more promising young players who joined this summer are South Korea’s Hong Hyun-seok (22) and Japanese winger Keito Nakamura (21).
Photo: LASKOfficial Facebook ()
