After rising confidently as group winners in Prague, LASK was lost from the start, was weak in a duel and offensively harmless. Yira Sor gave Slavia the lead in the third minute and tied a brace in the 29th minute. After the surprising goal from Husein Balic (67th), the Czech champions ensured a clear home win in front of 16,754 fans with a double strike in the final phase by Peter Olayinka (82nd) and Ibrahim Traore. This was the tenth game played by an Austrian club in Prague.
Both teams went into the game weak. Slavia were missing four regulars, including Taras Kacharaba, Oscar Dorley and Lukas Masopust. 16-year-old Adam Pudil therefore made his professional debut in coach Jindrich Trpisovsky’s usual 4-2-3-1 system, while his twin brother Milos sat on the bench. LASK trainer Andreas Wieland also had to change. Sascha Horvath and Andreas Gruber, who were ill, were replaced by Hyun Seok Hong and Florian Flecker, and Balic acted as solo leader instead of Marko Raguz.
Classic false start from LASK
Slavia had only seen LASK as a stopover on the way to the quarter-finals in the run-up to the game and was confirmed in this assumption after less than three minutes. After a pass from Alexander Bah, Sor quickly moved into the penalty area and shot over LASK goalie Alexander Schlager into the far corner, although the ball didn’t seem untenable. Linz had to deal with a false start and could hardly find their way into the game, possession of the ball was more than limited.
Prague took advantage of their superiority, looked for the direct route to the goal and kept coming dangerously into the penalty area, but initially there was no concrete chance. Wieland reacted to the playful imbalance and switched to a back three after just 15 minutes. Nevertheless, LASK continued to produce bad passes like on an assembly line during the build-up and remained completely harmless offensively.
Slavia much more single-minded
Slavia proved how it should work. With only three touches of the ball, the Czech champion played his way in front of the opposing goal at lightning speed. However, Sor didn’t really get the ball after the Stangl pass (21′). Eight minutes later, the Nigerian did better – this time only one pass from former LASK player Mads Madsen was necessary to overturn the Linz defense. Sor left James Holland standing, then hooked around Schlager and shot in.
The Prague team went into the dressing room with a more than deserved half-time lead, as they also had chances through Pudil (28′) and Madsen (28′, 36′). For a long time, LASK only had a free kick from Peter Michorl, which went into the wall (22nd), on the credit side. Linz only recorded a corner series shortly before the break. The first three crosses were cleared at the first pole. On the fourth attempt, Jan Boller finished, but shot clearly wide.
Twice luck for the LASK
LASK went into the second half unchanged in terms of personnel, with Slavia one Pudil replacing the other Pudil. Little changed in the character of the game. The players from Linz continued to have little rest in their game, while the players from Prague continued to rely on Sor’s speed. The striker used this blatant advantage against Holland again after a through ball, but this time failed to hit Schlager (50th). In defense, Slavia had no problems with the visitors’ offensive efforts.
Meanwhile, LASK had problems in the 59th minute, and again Slavia passed a pass to become dangerous. The hurrying hit was just able to clear before Pudil. The uncontrolled tee shot landed directly at Bah, who shot at goal from a long distance. However, the ball only went to the inside bar and could then be carried out of the danger zone by LASK. The people of Linz were lucky because Peter Olayinka hit the crossbar (65th).
LASK connection hit and Slavia double strike
The Slavia captain was also the center of attention four minutes later, but to the advantage of Linz, who scored the connecting goal out of nowhere. After a bad pass from Olayinka, Balic got the ball. The LASK striker didn’t hesitate and placed his shot with a lot of feeling and overview into the far corner. The previously untested Slavia goalie Ales Mandous stretched in vain (67th).
While the double goal scorer Sor was replaced by Prague (70th), LASK gained self-confidence from the goal and acted on an equal footing for at least a few minutes. After a nice individual action, Thomas Goiginger came to the end, but this time Mandous was able to excel (74th). With Keito Nakamura and Filip Twardzik, Wieland brought in two fresh attacking players.
Defensive protection would probably have been better, because Slavia set the course for promotion with a double strike in the last few minutes. Olayinka first made up for his mistake before the 1:2 and scored through Boller’s legs to make it 3:1 (82nd). Just three minutes later, the Czech champions made it 4-1. After a defense, the ball landed at Traore, who headed in from a relatively short distance. The fifth goal for Slavia prevented Schlager (89th).
Comments on the game:
Andrew Wieland (LASK trainer): “We played against an opponent who was superior in all respects, played much more robustly, was more active and therefore deserved to win 4-1. We often made the wrong decisions on defense. After the system change it worked better. We could have lived quite well with a 1-2 draw, but it will be difficult with a 1-4 draw. Slavia went into the duels much more intensively, so we missed a lot. Nothing is impossible, but it is a very difficult starting position.”
Husein Balic (LASK goal scorer): “We let ourselves be bought off, especially in the first half, and felt like we lost every duel. We were too slow in our heads, although we saw that they give up space. Then we come back 2-1, but then we should have played it smarter. Next week it’s just a matter of going full throttle.”
Jindrich Trpisovsky (Slavia coach): “I’m happy about the win and satisfied with the result. We’ve put ourselves in a good position for the second leg. We got off to a good start, scored straight away and then could have done it several times. Then we had problems with the changeover of the LASK game system. LASK was much more active in the second half than in the first half. We had a bad phase around the 60th minute, where we also conceded the goal. Maybe we could have scored more goals, but you also have to consider that we had 12 absentees. That’s why I’m happy that we scored four goals.”
Conference League Round of 16 First Leg
Thursday:
Slavia Prague – LASK 4: 1 (2: 0)
Prague, Eden Arena, 16,754 spectators, SR Treimanis (LAT)
Tore:
1: 0 Row (3rd)
2: 0 Row (29th)
2:1 Balic (67.)
3: 1 Olayinka (83.)
4-1 Traore (85.)
Slavia: Mandous – Bah, Ousou, Holes, Plavsic – Traore, Talowijerow – A. Pudil (46. M. Pudil / 82. Masopust), Madsen (57. Samek), Olayinka – Sor (70. Tecl)
LASK: A. Schlager – Potzmann, Boller, Wiesinger (81. Twardzik), Renner – Holland, Michorl – Flecker (61. A. Schmidt), Hong, Goiginger – Balic (81. Nakamura)
Yellow cards: Plavsic or Potzmann, Michorl
The best: Sor, Bah, Olayinka, Plavsic and A. Schlager
Second leg on March 17 (9 p.m.) in St. Pölten
