LASK produced one of their finest European performances in years on Tuesday night, dismantling Slovan Bratislava 4-0 at the Raiffeisen Arena in the Champions League league phase, with Kasper Jorgensen scoring twice in the first half and Nigerian winger Moses Usor setting up the opener.
The Austrian side were out of sight before half-time. Jorgensen opened the scoring in the 19th minute, converting after Usor set him up, and the Dane doubled the lead in the 37th minute with what Sports Mole described, quoting the TNT Sports coverage, as a beautiful free kick for his second of the night.
Robert Ljubicic made it 3-0 a minute before the break, and any thought of a Slovan revival lasted barely three minutes of the second half. Samuel Adeniran finished from a Sascha Horvath assist in the 48th minute to complete the rout.
The numbers told the same story as the scoreline. LASK had 29 shots to Slovan's seven and 60 per cent of the possession on a night when the visitors, who picked up two yellow cards, were second best in every department.
Usor at the heart of it
For LASK's Nigerian winger, this was another European night that underlined his importance to this team. Complete Sports reported that Usor set up Jorgensen for the opening goal in the 19th minute, the moment that broke Slovan's resistance and opened the floodgates.
Once that first goal went in, LASK never looked back. Jorgensen's second and Ljubicic's strike before half-time gave the home crowd a party to enjoy, and Adeniran's goal just after the restart turned the rest of the evening into a procession.
It was one of LASK's best European performances in recent memory, and it made it back-to-back European wins for the Austrian side.
Another miserable night for Slovan
For Slovan Bratislava, the misery deepens. The Slovakian champions remain rooted to the bottom of the 36-team league-phase table, still without a point after four matches.
This was their fourth straight defeat, and the heavy scorelines are stacking up: they were previously beaten 6-1 by Paris Saint-Germain, 3-0 by Stuttgart and 4-0 by Roma before Tuesday's latest four-goal beating in Linz.
On a night when Manchester United were completing a famous comeback elsewhere, Slovan once again looked like a side simply trying to keep the score down rather than compete.
So what does it mean?
LASK began the night 24th in the table on three points, in the last of the play-off places. This win doubles their tally to six and gives them real momentum before a trip to Bodo/Glimt in their next European fixture on 24 November, with a domestic trip to Ried to come first on Saturday.
Slovan, by contrast, host Real Betis on 24 November already knowing that anything less than a win will almost certainly end their interest in this season's competition. Four games, no points and a goal difference deep in negative territory is a hole very few teams climb out of.
For LASK, the equation is simple: play like this again in Norway and the play-off round stops being a hope and starts being an expectation.
Beyond the Final Whistle: LASK were everything Slovan were not — brave on the ball, ruthless in front of goal and powered by a winger in Usor who is quietly building a serious European reputation. A 4-0 win flattered nobody; this was a gulf in class, and on this evidence LASK belong in the play-off conversation while Slovan are merely making up the numbers.
Can LASK carry this form to Bodo/Glimt and take a giant step towards the play-offs? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
