LASK Linz produced the shock of the Champions League night on Wednesday, winning 3-2 at Sporting CP to claim their first points of the season. Luis Suarez's early penalty seemed to set up a routine home win, but Christoph Lang levelled, Sasa Kalajdzic and Krystof Danek struck in five second-half minutes, and Suarez's late second set up a frantic finish the Austrians survived.
Suarez strikes, Lang answers
Everything about the first five minutes followed the script. Sporting, perfect after wins over Galatasaray and the 2-0 victory at Lens last week, won a penalty and Suarez converted it for 1-0 — his ninth goal involvement of a prolific start to the season — and the Alvalade settled in for a comfortable night against a LASK side pointless and supposedly out of their depth.
Instead, the Austrians played with the freedom of a team with nothing to lose. On 15 minutes Kasper Jorgensen created the equaliser and Lang finished it for 1-1, and LASK — who had scored three even while losing to Liverpool in last week's wild 6-3 defeat — kept attacking. Sporting had more of the ball, 58 per cent across the night, but the half ended level and the home crowd was restless.
Dietmar Kuhbauer's side even survived a goalkeeping change, Tobias Schutzenauer replacing Lukas Jungwirth on 52 minutes, without losing their shape — and then, in five minutes either side of the hour, they tore the script up completely.
Kalajdzic and Danek in five stunning minutes
On 63 minutes Robert Ljubicic set up Kalajdzic and the big striker — whose movement had troubled Goncalo Inacio all night — put LASK in front. Rui Borges had barely processed the shock when it deepened: substitute Samuel Adeniran, on for Lang on 65 minutes, created the third on 68 minutes and Danek made it 3-1. The Alvalade could not believe it; neither, briefly, could LASK.
Sporting threw everything forward. Suarez scored his second on 89 minutes to make it 2-3 and set up a grandstand finish — Schutzenauer was even booked for time-wasting as the pressure mounted — and Suarez fired one final effort off target in stoppage time. LASK's 20 fouls and five yellow cards told the story of a rearguard action survived by inches, as NBC Sports' live updates recorded at full-time. There were no red cards.
So what: LASK alive, Sporting's perfect start ends
LASK's first three points lift them off the bottom of the league-phase table and into the play-off conversation nobody thought they would join; they host Slovan Bratislava on Matchday 4 on 3 November in a game that suddenly carries real stakes. A first-ever Champions League win, away to a perfect-record side, is a historic night for the club.
Sporting stay on six points and remain well placed for the play-offs — but a home defeat by the group's outsiders dents their top-eight ambitions and their aura at the Alvalade. They travel to Shakhtar Donetsk in the early game on 3 November, and Borges will demand a response from a defence that conceded three to a side that arrived with none.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this is why the league phase exists. A pointless Austrian side, written off by everyone, went to one of Europe's most intimidating grounds and attacked their way to a famous win — Kalajdzic bullying, Danek finishing, and 20 fouls of sheer refusal at the end. Sporting will call it a bad night; LASK will call it the night their campaign began. Was this the biggest upset of the Champions League season so far? Let us know in the comments below.
