Key events
85 min: A couple of substitutions to keep you updated with: Munoz came on for Barcola a few minutes ago and Iraola makes another double change with Mac Allister and Chambers replacing Nyoni and Ngumoha. The latter had cramp.
83 min: Good spell of possession here for Lask, who press forward with intent looking for a fourth goal. Andrade picks the pocket of Ngumoha and flashes a dangerous cross-shot across Liverpool’s six-yard box. For once, Flecker is not there to turn it home for Lask.
81 min: Will be an interesting journey home for Iraola, who will be concerned at the manner of this mini-collapse in the second half. Ultimately it should be a comprehensive away victory in the Champions League, but there is definitely concern defensively, particularly since Van Dijk and Gomez came on just after the hour mark.
79 min: “I realise Liverpool are playing Champions League minnows but, apart from my pleasure at the performance after the dismal showing against City, I’m delighted for the young striker Lewis Koumas who thoroughly deserved his goal,” emails Colum Fordham. “He played with energy on Sunday too. Nice to see a young academy player holding his own alongside the ‘stars’.”
GOAL! Lask 3-6 Liverpool (Flecker 77)
Oh my word! Lask score again in almost identical circumstances to their second goal. As a left-back, Dibango may have conceded six goals but he registers his third assist of the match, crossing again for Flecker. The substitute tucks a wonderful first-time finish back across goal, right into the corner. No chance for Alisson. Game on? Surely not.
GOAL! Lask 2-6 Liverpool (Flecker 74)
Iraola will be fuming! Frimpong has been brilliant going forward but is caught out defensively as Dibango gets in behind the Dutchman and dinks a cross to the back post, where Flecker times his run to perfection, planting a diving header into the net!
GOAL! Lask 1-6 Liverpool (Koumas 72)
Koumas gets his goal, finally, after two disallowed efforts! The youngster has again been full of running and deserves the adulation of the travelling Liverpool fans, who give their academy product an extra special roar. Frimpong is again excellent going forward, finding Koumas with a low cross and the Welshman takes his finish early to wrongfoot Jungwirth. A smile as wide as the Danube.
70 min: Lask make a double change: Schopf and Adeniran off for Elfadli and Kalajdzic, the latter formerly of Wolves, a 6ft7in striker.
68 min: Maybe this is all Barcola needed, a game to boost his confidence. Well, consider it boosted. The Frenchman goes in search of his fourth goal and races onto another through ball, dinking the ball over Jungwirth but not beyond the retreating defender Mbuyamba (who came through the academy ranks at Barcelona and Chelsea, by the way).
GOAL! Lask 1-5 Liverpool (Barcola hat-trick, 66)
Barcola scores his first career hat-trick! Goals do not come easier than this, as Ngumoha slips a wondrous ball inside the Lask full back for Frimpong to canter onto, and the Dutchman cuts the ball back to Barcola at the back post, who has the simple task of tapping it into an open goal.
GOAL! Lask 1-4 Liverpool (Ljubicic 63)
Ljubicic scores with his second touch! Liverpool are all at seas defensively, as Dibango squares to Ljubicic. On the six-yard box, the substitute has time to take a touch and swivel, beating Alisson at the near post! The Brazilian keeper is fuming to lose his clean sheet!
62 min: Liverpool make a double change, replacing both centre backs. It’s a little strange (and unnecessary?!) to bring on Van Dijk when Liverpool are 4-0 up but on comes the Dutchman, along with Gomez. Jacquet and Araujo off.
For Lask, Ljubicic comes on for Bogarde.
61 min: Danek forces Alisson into an excellent save! The Czech international cuts in on that left foot and whips a shot to the near post, but Alisson – off balance – somehow springs to his left and gets a big palm to it.
60 min: Adeniran remains a nuisance for Liverpool’s defenders and always is willing to stretch the play and run in behind. Jacquet in particular has struggled with the 6ft4in Texas-born striker.
58 min: Fair play to Lask’s supporters. Their side has been completely outplayed but the Austrian supporters have never lost their voice.
56 min: A word for the teenage Trey Nyoni, who has by no means been Liverpool’s best player in central midfield, but has looked completely at ease in the Champions League. Keeps it simple and has excellent positioning.
Koumas (again) has a goal disallowed!
54 min: Liverpool denied a fifth goal as Koumas is again (correctly) judged to be offside. Once again, it’s a pinpoint pass from Wirtz to slice open the Lask defence. Once again, Koumas takes the through ball on the move and perfectly into his path, before curling a shot past Jungwirth. But the Welsh international is offside.
GOAL! Lask 0-4 Liverpool (Frimpong 51)
You have to say this is a sensational header from 5ft7in Frimpong! Tsimikas shows great energy to underlap Barcola and receives the ball on the byline before standing up a cross to the back post. Tsimikas has no pace on it, but Frimpong leaps like a salmon and crashes a header downwards from eight yards out. Frimpong’s effort kisses the post and goes in! Frimpong looks absolutely delighted, as well he might.
49 min: Chance for Lask! Not for the first time, Adeniran gets by Jacquet and after a couple of half-clearances from Liverpool, a bouncing ball falls to Lang, who snatches at a shot, which squirts just wide!
47 min: “Your post at 41 minutes got me thinking, what does Opta say? According to their club rankings, Liverpool are sixth, Lask rank 143, while the ‘larger Glasgow club’ comes in at 178. Does this mean anything? I don’t know, I just like looking stuff up.”
Peeeeeeep!
We’re underway again in Austria. Lask make one change: a right-wing back Jorgensen off for Flecker, who is a right winger by trade. Perhaps that means a change in formation, to 4-4-2?
Half-time reading:
Our Manchester City v PSG liveblog is, um, live. Scott Murray will have the team news in there as soon as they drop.
Got a minute to spare? Why not try our daily Premier League trivia game, On the ball? Every day a star player past or present is hidden behind nine clues. How many will you need to identify them? It’s available in the Guardian apps.
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Today’s one is tricky, I should warn you.
Half-time: Lask 0-3 Liverpool
The visitors are utterly dominant.
45 min: One minute added on here.
43 min: Barcola and Wirtz should take the headlines but Ngumoha has had an excellent half on the right wing for Liverpool. And Koumas has been industrious through the middle, and set up Barcola for his first goal.
41 min: Can’t say I watch Lask every week and so it’s hard to know just what level Wirtz and Barcola are playing at here. They suddenly look world class, but maybe Lask just aren’t very good – their manager, Dietmar Kuhbauer, admitted before the Celtic qualifier that they were “a small club” compared to the Glasgow side. So imagine the gulf between the Austrian champions and Liverpool. The challenge for Wirtz and Barcola is now to translate this form to the Premier League.
39 min: “Three at Lask, three at Lask, god Almighty, three at Lask,” emails Paul Griffin.
GOAL! Lask 0-3 Liverpool (Barcola 37)
Easy for Liverpool. Wirtz is the creator as he threads a wonderful pass through the needle perfectly into the stride of Barcola, who takes a good first touch past Alemao, and fires low into the far corner.
35 min: Liverpool are really turning on the style. Wirtz and Barcola each pop up with a couple of lovely nutmegs. This could end up being a cricket score.
Gravenberch hits the post!
33 min: A scintillating Liverpool move ends with Wirtz releasing Gravenberch. The Dutchman is at an acute angle to the left of the goal and drags a left-footed shot onto the base of the far post. That looked in, but the curl of the shot took it onto the post, and the rebound didn’t fall kindly to a Liverpool man.
Liverpool goal disallowed!
31 min: Koumas takes a through ball beautifully on the turn, outmuscles Andrade and rounds the advancing Jungwirth, before tucking a finish into the corner! But replays show Koumas was juuuuuuust offside when he first took the pass, to the score stays at 2-0.
28 min: Lask are going to have to shake things up if they are going to get anything from this game. They normally play with wing-backs, this isn’t just a defensive formation because Liverpool are in town. But their 5-3-2 isn’t working.
26 min: Iraola challenged his players to step up in the absence of Isak, Szoboszlai and Gakpo and Liverpool have done just that. Lask started the stronger, but Liverpool are completely dominant now, with 69% possession. They could easily be three or four up.
GOAL! Lask 0-2 Liverpool (Barcola 24)
Barcola scores his first Liverpool goal! But this is a strike made by Ngumoha who sends Andrés Andrade, Lask’s captain, back to Panama with a series of feints and dips on the byline. Ngumoha has serious claims for a penalty as he hits the deck, but Koumas collects the ball, turns nicely away from his marker and lays it on a plate for Barcola, who strokes a finish into the corner from near the penalty spot!
GOAL! Lask 0-1 Liverpool (Araújo 22)
Araújo threatened from a corner just a moment ago and now the Barcelona loannee makes no mistake from the next Tsimikas corner, thundering a header past Jungwirth! Such a poor goal for Last to concede but Araújo was simply too strong!
20 min: Adeniran, who scored twice against Celtic in qualifying, is making himself a real nuisance on the counter-attack for Lask. The big, burly forward got the better of Jacquet and nearly edged Tsimikas out the way on the byline before the Greek got a toe in.
17 min: Chance for Araújo! The Uruguayan, starting at centre-back for the first time tonight, climbs highest from a Tsimikas corner but can’t get his header on target from six yards out.
14 min: Liverpool are starting to turn the screw now. Lask can’t seem to get out. The visitors are probably constantly with Wirtz and Barcola looking the most threatening.
Genius from Wirtz!
11 min: Wirtz, cutting in from the left, chops between two Lask defenders and fires a near-post shot at goal. Jungwirth just about keeps it out, the ball just failing to squeeze under the goalkeeper’s legs.
9 min: Contrary to pre-match thoughts from TNT, Barcola is the one playing left wing for Liverpool, with Ngumoha on the right.
7 min: Chance for Lask and Jorgensen! Liverpool fail to clear their lines from a corner with the ball falling to the right-wing back, but Jorgensen laces a fierce shot just a couple of yards over! Lask are playing the better stuff, so far.
6 min: Koumas beats the offside trap, rounds the advancing keeper but is forced wide and can’t squeeze a finish into the open goal from an acute angle, with Mbuyamba doing well to recover and intercept!
5 min: Lask mount their first serious attack and a dangerous cross to the back post is well defended by Tsimikas, under pressure from Jorgensen.
3 min: Frimpong, who has something to prove since losing his starting place, curls an optimistic shot high and wide with his left foot. One of the worst weak foots in the game, for my money.
2 min: Two minutes played and Lask have not yet had a literal kick. Liverpool seem content to hog the ball and try to take the sting out of the atmosphere. Lask’s fans are lively behind their own goal. This is their first ever home Champions League match, remember.
Peeeeeeeeeeeeep!
We are underway in Austria.
“The game is a two-part puzzle similar to yesterday’s Arsenal v Lille,” emails AnhTuan Nguyen Huynh. “Lask have the first half to do what they need to do while Liverpool’s big guns are on the bench. Lask are going to have their say before Liverpool’s calvary arrives in the second half.”
Here come the teams! Kostas Tsimikas is Liverpool captain for the night! I’m surprised that either Alisson or Gravenberch didn’t get the nod for that.
Lask will play in their third red kit (?!), so Liverpool are wearing their white away number. Bizarre, when both teams could have just worn their home kits. Lask traditionally play in black and white.
Andoni Iraola, Liverpool’s manager, speaks to TNT:
We play every three days so we cannot expect to play every game with the same XI. This is a good opportunity to give Van Dijk a rest.
Koumas and Ngumoha are coming from the academy but they are first-team players. I hope they do well. This is the Champions League, every win is very expensive, especially away from home.
“Should I be the writer of the first Wirtz email then?” asks Graeme Neill. “I think Sunday was when my patience finally went. Up until that point, I figured it would click all of a sudden but now all I can think of is a highly sought after young German player who was seen as a no brainer signing but flopped in the Premier League: Timo Werner.”
“Did you ever notice that if you type ‘Wirtz’ too fast in your keyboard it comes out as ‘Worse’?” quips Peadar de Burca.
Florian Wirtz is a real jugador but really has struggled to show his best form in a Liverpool shirt. This is a big game for the German. If you missed his performance for Germany against Serbia during the international break, you can watch the highlights of his sublime goal and assist here. Woof.
It’s worth remembering Lask’s route to this match. They won the domestic double last season in Austria and came back from four goals down to beat Celtic 5-4 (on aggregate) over two legs in Champions League qualifying. Here is a reminder of that remarkable comeback … and the highlights are here.
In their opening league phase match, a 1-0 defeat to AEK Athens was much more underwhelming.
TNT Sport seem to think it will be Ngumoha, not Barcola, on the left wing for Liverpool. Interesting to see if that is true. Ngumoha was poor on the right wing when I watched him against Newcastle on the opening day and as I mentioned, Barcola has yet to register either an goal or an assist since his move from PSG from the left wing, so makes sense for Iraola to try it the other way around, even if Barcola has traditionally always played his best stuff from the left.
The good news for Lask is that Iraola has rested several first-choice players, with Van Dijk, Kerkez, Mac Allister, Munoz all on the bench. Liverpool have a testing trip to Brentford on Saturday, remember.
The bad news for Lask is that arguably their star man, Moses Usor, is not fit and left out of the squad entirely. The Nigerian winger came off the bench during Lask’s 2-0 defeat to Austrian Bundesliga leaders Rapid Vienna at the weekend but lasted only 12 minutes before he had to be withdrawn again. Lask’s starting left-back, George Bello, was also injured in that match and it is replacement Yvan Dibango, who starts at left-wing back here.
The teams!
Lask (5-3-2): Jungwirth; Jorgensen, Mbuyamba, Alemao, Andrade, Dibango; Danek, Bogarde, Schopf; Lang, Adeniran.
Subs: Schutzenauer, Schillinger, Freckleton, Ljubicic, Kalajdzic, Verhaeghe, Elfadli, Flecker, Kane.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Frimpong, Araujo, Jacquet, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Nyoni; Barcola, Wirtz, Ngumoha; Koumas.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Gomez, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Mac Allister, Munoz, Chambers, McConnell, Danns, Lambie, Lucky.
Referee: Tobias Stieler (Germany)
Preamble
The only previous time that Liverpool have visited Lask, in the Europa League back in 2023, Jürgen Klopp was still manager of the club and the German put out a largely second-string XI, with Caoimhin Kelleher, Kostas Tsimikas, Harvey Elliott, Steven Bajcetic, Ben Gannon-Doak, Wataru Endo, Darwin Núñez all part of the starting line-up.
At half-time, Lask were 1-0 up and although Núñez scored a penalty early in the second half, it was only after the hour mark – when Klopp brought on Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister – that Liverpool finally wrestled control of the match. Two minutes after those subs, Luis Diaz put Liverpool ahead before another late substitute, Mohamed Salah came off the bench to seal a 3-1 win.
Nearly all of those players (and manager) are unavailable today, either having left the club or sidelined with injury, and Andoni Iraola will surely pick a much stronger XI this time around. Not only because the Spaniard can ill afford a slip up in Austria, but also because Lask are more accomplished since that last Liverpool visit, with the Linz-based club winning the Austrian Bundesliga last season for the first time since 1965. Absences of key personnel – including Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai, his three leading goalscorers – means that Iraola will surely play his best team where he can. Some players, including Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola (the latter without a goal or an assist in six appearances since his £123m arrival from Paris Saint-Germain, or even win possession in the final third) desperately need to play themselves into form if the Reds are to play again in the Champions League next season. Iraola has said he trusts the £100m+ pair, which is at least something.
Liverpool should be wary of striker Christoph Lang, who has started this season like a train with five goals in eight league matches. It would be a big blow for Lask if Moses Usor is not fit – the winger topped both the club’s scoring and assists in their double-winning season last year and scored on his Nigeria debut during the recent international break but is a doubt for this match. Melayro Bogarde, nephew to former Ajax, Barcelona and Chelsea defender Winston Bogarde, is another important cog at the base of Lask’s midfield.
An intriguing kick-off at 5.45pm BST for an intriguing match-up. And one that Liverpool should not take lightly.
