LASK vs Celtic: Champions League Playoff Showdown in Linz
Tuesday night in Linz offers LASK a simple equation and a brutal reality. They trail 3-0 from the first leg. Celtic arrive unbeaten, ruthless, and already halfway through the door to the Champions League group stage.
Kick-off is at 8pm BST at the Raiffeisen Arena. For the home side, this is about belief as much as tactics.
LASK: full strength, backs to the wall
Dietmar Kühbauer at least goes into the second leg with clarity. His squad is intact, his options are clear, and the message is obvious: attack, or go out quietly.
There are no fresh injury problems from the bruising first leg at Celtic Park. LASK’s only significant absentee remains forward Ramiz Harakaté, still out long term with an ACL tear. Everyone else is available. Everyone else is needed.
Kühbauer is expected to stick with his familiar 3-5-2 from the start, trusting the back three of Xavier Mbuyamba, Alemão and Andrés Andrade to hold the line against Celtic’s wide threats. That structure has underpinned a blistering domestic start and gives LASK a platform to build from rather than panic from the opening whistle.
But the situation demands risk. Inside the camp, the plan is clear: if the goals don’t come early, the second half will see a more aggressive shift, with extra attacking players thrown on to chase the deficit. LASK cannot afford a slow, cautious evening. Not at 0-3 down. Not against this Celtic.
Celtic: problems at the back, momentum everywhere else
Martin O’Neill arrives in Austria with a commanding lead but a few late worries.
Centre-back Auston Trusty missed the final training session with a stomach illness, forcing a rethink at the heart of the defence. Liam Scales is on standby to partner Cameron Carter-Vickers if Trusty doesn’t make it, a change that could matter if LASK turn this into the kind of wild, open game they need.
The full-back situation is already stretched. First-choice right-back Alistair Johnston is out until October with a hamstring injury, so Colby Donovan is set to fill in again. On the opposite side, Kieran Tierney is expected to start, anchoring a makeshift back line that will still be asked to play on the front foot.
Celtic are also without some serious pedigree further forward. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is suspended, while Jota remains a long-term absentee as he continues his recovery from a serious cruciate ligament injury. Even so, the Scottish champions have not looked short of ideas or goals.
Between the posts, Viljami Sinisalo is tipped to start, shielded by that patched-up defence. Protecting him from an early LASK onslaught will be the first big test of Celtic’s composure on the night.
Form guide: LASK perfect at home, Celtic perfect everywhere
Domestically, LASK have been ruthless. Four competitive wins from four inside Austria, three of them in the Bundesliga and all of them emphatic.
- They opened the league campaign with a 3-0 victory over Grazer AK,
- followed that with a 2-0 win against Austria Wien,
- then swatted aside SV Ried 4-1.
In the Austrian Cup, they ran riot in a 7-0 demolition. At home and at this level, they know how to dominate.
All of that momentum hit a wall in Glasgow. Celtic’s 3-0 win in the first leg not only snapped LASK’s perfect start but underlined the difference in European experience and cutting edge. That’s the gap LASK must somehow close in 90 minutes.
Celtic, under O’Neill, have barely put a foot wrong. Four competitive games, four wins, 13 goals scored and just one conceded. Dundee FC were edged 1-0 in the Premiership, Kilmarnock were thrashed 5-1, and Dundee United were brushed aside 4-0 in the League Cup. Then came the 3-0 dismantling of LASK at Celtic Park.
Form, confidence, scoreboard – all lean green and white.
Predicted lineups
LASK
Jungwirth; Mbuyamba, Alemao, Andrade; Jorgensen, Danek, Ljubicic, Horvath, Bello; Usor, Adeniran
Celtic
Sinisalo; Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney; Nygren, McGregor, Baur; Duran, Hogh, Hyun-Jun
Where 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.
Celtic stand 90 minutes from another step into Europe’s elite. LASK stand on the edge, needing something extraordinary. Under the floodlights in Linz, we find out which story holds.
