NorthStandCA logo

LASK vs Celtic: Champions League Showdown in Linz

Tuesday night in Linz offers LASK a mountain, not a hill. A three-goal deficit to Celtic, a season’s early momentum on the line, and 90 minutes at the Raiffeisen Arena to try and turn a Champions League play-off tie on its head. Kick-off is 8pm BST. The task is brutal. The belief, at least inside the home dressing room, is not.

LASK: Full Strength, No Excuses

If LASK are going out, they are going out with their best available side on the pitch.

Dietmar Kühbauer comes into the second leg with a clean bill of health from Celtic Park. No new knocks from that bruising night in Glasgow, no late withdrawals to complicate an already daunting assignment. His only long-term absentee remains forward Ramiz Harakaté, still sidelined with an ACL tear and nowhere near a return.

Tactically, Kühbauer is not expected to rip up the blueprint that has carried LASK through a perfect domestic start. The 3-5-2 that underpins their aggressive, front-foot style should stay in place, with a back three of Xavier Mbuyamba, Alemão and Andrés Andrade tasked with shutting down Celtic’s wide threats and giving LASK a platform to push on.

The twist comes later. With three goals to claw back, LASK cannot afford to drift. Club sources indicate a clear plan: if they are not significantly into the tie by half-time, the second half will see an attacking surge from the bench. Extra forwards, more risk, more space in behind. It could be chaos. It will have to be.

Celtic: Strong Start, Fragile Back Line

Martin O’Neill arrives in Austria with a 3-0 lead and a perfect record this season, but his defensive options are fraying at the edges.

Centre-back Auston Trusty missed the final training session with a stomach illness, leaving Liam Scales primed to step in alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers at the heart of the defence. That change alone would be manageable. The wider picture is trickier.

Celtic are stretched thin at full-back. First-choice right-back Alistair Johnston is ruled out until October with a hamstring injury, so Colby Donovan is again expected to fill in on that flank. On the opposite side, Kieran Tierney is set to anchor a makeshift back line that will need to cope with a LASK side throwing everything at them.

Further up the pitch, O’Neill is without two significant attacking pieces. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is suspended, removing a driving presence from midfield, while Jota remains a long-term absentee as he continues his recovery from a serious cruciate ligament injury. The creative burden shifts to others.

Between the posts, Viljami Sinisalo is tipped to start, charged with marshalling a defence that may not be entirely settled but has barely been breached all season.

Form Lines: Domestic Dominance, European Reality

LASK’s domestic numbers are emphatic. Four competitive wins from four in Austria, 16 goals scored, just one conceded. They cruised past Grazer AK 3-0, shut out Austria Wien 2-0, and dismantled SV Ried 4-1 in the Bundesliga. In the Austrian Cup, they ran riot in a 7-0 victory.

Then came Glasgow. Celtic 3-0 LASK. The first real punch in the face of their campaign.

Celtic, meanwhile, have not blinked. Under O’Neill, they have won all four competitive games, scoring 13 and conceding only once. Dundee FC were edged 1-0, Kilmarnock were blown away 5-1, and Dundee United were swept aside 4-0 in the League Cup. The first leg against LASK was another statement: 3-0, controlled, ruthless.

That contrast shapes the narrative. LASK look like a powerhouse at home, Celtic like one wherever they go.

Predicted XIs: Risk vs Control

LASK are expected to line up with:

  • Jungwirth;
  • Mbuyamba, Alemao, Andrade;
  • Jorgensen, Danek, Ljubicic, Horvath, Bello;
  • Usor, Adeniran.

Celtic’s likely response:

  • Sinisalo;
  • Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney;
  • Nygren, McGregor, Baur;
  • Duran, Hogh, Hyun-Jun.

On paper, it’s a clash between a side that must chase and a side built to punish teams who over-commit. In reality, it will be about nerve. How quickly do LASK gamble? How calm can Celtic stay if the stadium starts to shake?

How to Watch

For viewers in the UK, the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg between LASK Linz and Celtic will be shown live and exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

Three goals up, Celtic should finish the job. But in a tight, noisy arena with a season’s European dream on the line, what happens if LASK score first?

Related News