The Upper Austrians conceded a goal in the 93rd minute to Romanian champions FCSB in the Steaua Stadium in Bucharest on Thursday after a tough European Cup fight, making it 0-1 (0-0). Thomas Darazs’ team will have to make do with the Conference League after the 1-1 first leg draw. For the Linz team, it was the next setback after three defeats in the league.
Despite many chances, LASK left the pitch as losers in Romania because FCSB captain Darius Olaru moved into the penalty area from the left in injury time and scored a powerful late victory over LASK goalkeeper Jörg Siebenhandl and via the underside of the crossbar. This means that the Romanians can look forward to Europa League entry fees of 4.31 million euros, while LASK has 3.17 million euros left to compete in the Conference League, the third-highest European club competition.
LASK with a changed system
Darazs tried to compensate for the absence of captain Robert Zulj and central defender Hrvoje Smolcic by changing the system. Compared to the first leg, Maksym Talowjerow started in a 4-1-4-1 formation as a sweeper in front of the defence, while Filip Stojkovic moved into central defence, as he did in the 1-2 loss to Wiener Austria in the league on Sunday.
In the well-filled and atmospheric arena, the hosts, who have only won once in six league matches, started with more drive towards the goal. However, it was Linz who created the better chances. Substitute captain Philipp Ziereis headed wide after a corner (10th minute), and after a quarter of an hour FCSB goalkeeper Stefan Tarnovanu had to make a good save on a long-range shot from Adil Taoui. Marin Ljubicic failed to get a header on target (16th minute), and George Bello narrowly missed a dangerous cross from Moses Usor (19th minute).
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A little later, Sascha Horvath had to leave the pitch due to injury. Siebenhandl had little to do against the Romanians, who were harmless for long stretches. Before the break, the experienced player, who replaced the injured Tobias Lawal, was forced to make two saves (43′, 45′). However, Darazs’ team had the best chance to take the lead just before the half-time whistle: Taoui ran alone towards the goal, but decided to pass too steeply across to Ljubicic (45’+3).
Although the Romanians came out of the dressing room much more aggressively, LASK again had the better chances to take the lead. But shots from Taoui (50th) and Usor (52nd) did not bring any goal celebrations for Linz. A hard-fought game developed in which FCSB increasingly took control. Ziereis saved a Popa shot just before the line in the closing stages (83rd), while on the other side Taoui failed to score after a counterattack from a good position against Tarnovanu (90th). This was to come back to haunt them when everyone expected the game to go into extra time. The hosts struck after all.
“Failed to score that stupid goal”
Thomas Darazs: “I’m really incredibly disappointed and a little angry that we didn’t manage to score that stupid goal. My team defended very disciplined and well until the last minute. We didn’t always make the right decision with the last pass or the shot. Attitude, heart, passion, tactical discipline were all there. The opponent scored a goal from an individual effort. I would like to see that happen now and then, if we can’t pull it together as a team.”
Valon Berisha: “It’s hard, we invest so much and play a great game. We were the better team in both games. It’s hard to process that. We wanted to get into the Europa League so badly. We have to learn from it, but it’s very painful. That’s football, we have to accept it and at least we’re playing internationally. Tomorrow we have to get up and look forward.”
FCSB – LASK 1:0 (0:0)
- Bucharest, Stadionul Steaua, SR Zwayer (GER)
- First leg: 1:1
- Tor: 1:0 (93.) Potter
- FCSB: Tarnovanu – Cretu, Ngezana, Lixandru, Radunovic – Sut (72. Chiriches), Alhassan (46. Edjouma) – Baluta (46. Popa), Olaru, Miculescu (78. Baeten) – Tanase (78. Popescu)
- SHOT: Siebenhandl – Bogarde (95th Boateng), Ziereis, Stojkovic, Bello – Talowjerow – Usor (86th Tibidi), Taoui, Horvath (38th Pintor), Berisha – Ljubicic
- Yellow cards: Ngezana, Popa, Tanase bzw. Berisha, Usor, Ljubicic, Tibidi
