Liverpool’s unbeaten start to the season is over, and the timing could hardly be worse. Three days after a 3-0 home defeat by Manchester City, Andoni Iraola takes a depleted squad to Austria for a Champions League meeting with LASK Linz on Wednesday night.
The match at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz kicks off at 5:45pm BST, which is 6:45pm local time, on Wednesday, October 14. Tobias Stieler is the referee. In the UK, the game is live on TNT Sports and can be streamed through the HBO Max app, while viewers outside the UK can find details of where to watch in their own region.
Sunday’s 3-0 loss will linger for a while. Liverpool were the better side for an hour, but everything shifted when Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for a second yellow card in the 62nd minute. Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki then scored inside a devastating spell of 13 minutes, and Iraola was left furious with referee Chris Kavanagh, insisting the first booking was “never a yellow card”.
The consolation for Liverpool is that Europe has treated them well so far. They opened the campaign with a 2-1 win over Atlético Madrid at Anfield, Alexis Mac Allister scoring the winner, and a victory in Austria would put them in a strong position in the race for the top eight.
For LASK, simply being here is an achievement in itself. Dietmar Kühbauer’s side sealed a historic first appearance in the Champions League league phase with a remarkable playoff comeback against Celtic, recovering from 4-0 down in the tie to go through 5-4 on aggregate. Their league phase debut was far less memorable, ending in a 1-0 defeat at AEK Athens.
Form is a concern for the Austrian double winners. Sunday’s 2-0 home loss to Rapid Vienna made it four competitive games without a win, and Kühbauer was blunt afterwards, admitting his team had been “far away from a win” and that “Liverpool play well above Rapid.”
Liverpool will carry fond memories of this fixture. They beat LASK 3-1 in Linz and 4-0 at Anfield during their Europa League group campaign in 2023-24.
Team news
Iraola accepted after the City defeat that bringing any of his injured players back would be “difficult”. “It is something very small but now we play four games in 10 days, so it’s going to be difficult because now we fly to Austria in two days,” he said. “I think it’s going to be difficult to recover any of the injured players.”
That leaves Alexander Isak (thigh) and Cody Gakpo (ankle) unlikely to feature, with Dominik Szoboszlai also a major doubt. The Hungarian was a surprise absentee against City after returning from international duty with what Iraola described as “tightness, an overload” in his hamstring. Hugo Ekitike remains out, and Conor Bradley is “not close to training with the team”.
There is some encouraging news. Gravenberch is available because his suspension applies only to domestic matches, Jeremy Jacquet came through the City game after his hamstring scare, and Federico Chiesa made his first appearance of the season as a late substitute on Sunday.
LASK have fresh injury issues of their own. Left wing back George Bello limped off with a muscle injury against Rapid, and Kühbauer confirmed: “For Wednesday he is definitely out.” Moses Usor, last season’s leading scorer, also came off with a shoulder injury just 12 minutes after being introduced, and his involvement is in serious doubt. Sascha Horvath is expected to be fit.
Possible lineups
LASK: Jungwirth; Cissé, Tornich, Andrade; Jørgensen, Bogarde, Horvath, Flecker; Daněk; Adeniran, Kalajdzic
Liverpool: Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Barcola, Wirtz, Munoz; Koumas
For Liverpool, the target is clear: a response, three points, and a firmer foothold in the race for the top eight. For LASK, the visit of the Premier League side is a chance to steady themselves after a bruising run and to claim a first point in the league phase. With absentees on both sides, Iraola will be expecting a far sharper performance than the one his team produced at Anfield on Sunday.
