'No downshift, no mercy. Spoilsports' - Austrian media react to Liverpool beating LASK at Anfield
Liverpool recorded a 4-0 win over LASK in the Europa League on Thursday night to seal top spot in their group and qualify for the knockout stages
Liverpool have qualified for the Europa League knockout stages with a game to spare.
Goals from Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and a brace from Cody Gakpo earned the Reds a comfortable victory at Anfield. A draw in the other game in Group E - a draw between Toulouse and Union SG - confirmed that Jurgen Klopp’s had secured top spot, therefore skipping a play-off tie, and will progress to the round of 16.
Liverpool will be delighted to have sealed their fate with a game to go, allowing the team more time to focus on their Premier League title push. Meanwhile, LASK sit bottom of the group but still in with a chance of earning a place in the Europa Conference League by finishing third.
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You will never sing alone. The LASK fans who travelled along set the tone at Liverpool's famous Anfield Road in the early stages as the Linz Boys' Choir.
In the end you had to acknowledge the superiority of the great Liverpool FC in the Europa League duel and console yourself in defeat: You will never lose alone. Even after the 4-0 win, players and supporters alike could say that they had witnessed an unforgettable experience.
It might seem strange, but LASK had very pleasant presentations on the offensive, but they couldn't be satisfactorily finalised. So needle pricks that didn't hurt much.
Liverpool, on the other hand, caused Linzer pain because they proved to be spoilsports. No downshift, no mercy.
In the first ten minutes the guests were able to keep up with the top Premier League club, but then the class of Jürgen Klopp's team became apparent. First, Diaz was there to head a cross from Joe Gomez, then Salah set up for Gakpo, who just had to get the ball over the line.
LASK decided against defensive tactics and tried to play along. This resulted in one or two promising attacks, which mostly failed due to the last pass or poor ball reception - for example in the 14th minute when Moses Usor failed to properly control the artificial leather in a good position.
However, the courageous style of play also gave Liverpool room for quick combinations, and again and again it was ablaze in goalie Tobias Lawal's penalty area. The goalkeeper was lucky when Kostas Tsimikas hit the crossbar (32') and parried an attempt from Salah (43'). At this point, the Linz team had already switched to a back four. Soon after the break, LASK's last hope of winning a point was lost.
LASK 's excursion into the big football world ended with a lesson. The Linzers suffered a 4-0 away defeat against Liverpool in the Europa League; the top club in the English Premier League proved to be at least one league too strong, even with a strengthened B team. They lost against an “absolutely world-class team,” said coach Thomas Sageder. The only consolation is that there is still a chance of staying in the European Cup.
LASK appeared brave at Anfield Road. This meant there were plenty of scoring opportunities for Liverpool, but also some promising attacking moves from the visitors. The fact that nothing worthwhile came out of this for the Bundesliga third-place team was due to poor ball reception and sloppy final passes.
"In order to gain something from a game like this, everything has to come together. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, even though we tried everything right up to the end. We definitely had opportunities going forward, but unfortunately we didn't finish them consistently enough,” Sageder analysed. "A goal from us would have been nice and it would have been deserved."