Liverpool successfully fought back against LASK Linz in the second half thanks to the brilliance of a series of pillars.
Liverpool meets Austrian opponent LASK Linz in the opening match of the 2023/24 Europa League group stage. The Kop have been accustomed to competing in the Champions League for the past 6 years, so perhaps many of their fans will find the second-tier European tournament quite strange.
Coach Jurgen Klopp’s team has had a good start this season, but there are still some defensive problems, and it showed in the match against LASK.
Liverpool uses a lineup with many changes with many young stars such as Elliott (20 years old), Bajcetic (18 years old) and Doak (17 years old),… Therefore, they have difficulty imposing a position on the game. In the 14th minute, Flecker suddenly put the home team ahead with a beautiful shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Despite dominating ball control, Liverpool’s counterattacks were not sharp enough. Diaz and Nunez played very aggressively, but Klopp’s experiments did not show effectiveness in the first half.
In the second half, Liverpool continued to apply pressure and the result came in the 56th minute. The opponent’s defender fouled Diaz in the penalty area and The Kop received a penalty. Darwin Nunez succeeded and equalized for the away team.
A few minutes later, Joe Gomez, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister were brought onto the field and immediately, Diaz shined with a delicate goal that put Liverpool ahead.
Liverpool completely controlled the match thanks to the presence of stars from the bench. In the 88th minute, Salah put his name on the scoreboard after poking the goalkeeper.
For the second time this week, Liverpool came back to win 3-1 away from home. That was also The Kop’s 5th consecutive win in all competitions.
After finishing 5th last season, Liverpool said goodbye to the Champions League for the first time in 6 years. They are in stable form and have been unbeaten in the last 16 matches.
LASK and Liverpool have never faced each other before, but the home team has lost 3 of their 4 previous meetings with teams from England, holding Tottenham Hotspur to a 3-3 draw in the 2020-21 group stage.