In the duel for the promotion to the play-off of the Champions League qualification, the LASK wants to close the bag on Tuesday (20:30, here in the live ticker) in the second leg against FC Basel. Coach Valerien Ismael expects an opponent after the 2-1 away win who will not be surprised anymore. “We must go beyond the point,” demanded the Frenchman, “we want to achieve the historic goal together.”
Already the 2:1 in the first leg was from the point of view of the Upper Austrians the most significant away success in the history of the club, to which one could add on Tuesday on the sold-out Linzer Gugl another chapter. Self-confidence should not be lacking after five wins in five competitive games and a goal ratio of 14:3. According to Ismael, the most recent 1:0 at the Admira was “no treat”, but the extensive rotation might have served its purpose.
Ismael, who was the first LASK coach to celebrate three league victories at the start of his era, can again rely on his best eleven – with the exception of defender Christian Ramsebner, who suffered a torn tendon in his thigh in Basel and will probably be represented again by “Oldie” Emanuel Pogatetz. His Basel counterpart, former ÖFB team boss Marcel Koller, had to cope with the loss of two strikers in the past few days: Albijan Ajeti, who was already missing in the first leg, switched to West Ham, Ricky van Wolfswinkel is still suffering from a concussion suffered against the LASK. Kemal Ademi will slip into this role, he also scored in Basel’s 3-1 home win on Saturday against the promoted Servette Geneva.
Ismael did not expect a similar scenario as last week, when Basel had made a very bad impression against the LASK in the “Joggeli”, for Tuesday. “You just didn’t expect us to push for 90 minutes. You must have thought we’d be tired after 20 minutes. They couldn’t cope with that,” recalled the 43-year-old. “The element of surprise is no longer there. They will bring a different intensity into the game and try to make it 1:0 as early as possible.”
A scenario similar to that in the final phase of the first leg, when Luca Zuffi scored for Basel, but Joao Klauss was also successful after a counterattack. “We’ll get a lot more space, that’s up to us,” Ismael said. The same applies to resting balls, the 1:0 in Basel fell once again after a corner. “We will certainly not make the mistake of underestimating Basel,” promised Peter Michorl, as the “standard artist” primarily responsible for the four of eight mandatory goals of the season (without Cup) after corner kicks.
If Michorl and Co. were to clear the Basel hurdle, either Club Bruges or Dynamo Kiev would wait in the play-off on 20 August (home) or 28 August (away) – the Belgians would travel to Ukraine with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, with the game starting at 19:30. From a financial point of view, even making progress against Basel would be highly lucrative: even the play-off losers have five million euros more in their pockets. But the Upper Austrians are also sure of a good income if the venture fails on Tuesday: because the ticket for the group phase of the Europa League is fixed.
On Tuesday almost 14,000 spectators will make the pilgrimage to the Gugl, Ismael also bets on the “eleventh man”. “It’s extremely important at this level,” the former defender, who kicked with Bayern and Werder in the CL group phase, made clear. His hope, at least metaphorically: “The stadium doesn’t have to burn, it has to explode.”
