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🇦🇹 Austria /Sports

Why LASK must play like Bodø/Glimt

From Die Presse · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Named sources New plan
  • Austrian champions LASK open their Champions League campaign away to AEK Athens after eliminating Celtic Glasgow in the playoffs.
  • The column urges the debutants to adopt the fearless, attacking approach that made Bodø/Glimt famous against major European clubs.
  • LASK face a demanding schedule that includes Liverpool, Real Madrid, Porto and other prominent opponents, but the team is presented as having little to lose.

LASK begin their Champions League adventure in Athens with a simple challenge: play like Bodø/Glimt.

For Austrian football fans, European competition often brings an unwanted habit of looking across the border with envy. It is good enough that three Austrian Bundesliga teams appear in one of the continent’s competitions, but it would be better if one of them produced the kind of headlines associated with other small European clubs. For LASK, making their Champions League debut, the model is obvious: play with the freedom, courage and attacking joy of the Norwegian club from the Arctic Circle.

Bodø/Glimt’s victories last season over giants such as Manchester City, Inter Milan and Atlético Madrid showed that these fairy tales can happen even in a competition increasingly crowded with fixtures. The question is why other small clubs manage to create such moments while Austria so often reaches for the same old excuse.

After their outstanding playoff victory over Celtic Glasgow, the Linz side begin a million-euro adventure against AEK Athens on Tuesday evening. Their schedule also includes Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon, Bratislava, Bodø/Glimt, Fenerbahçe, Real Madrid and Porto. LASK are a small club by comparison with many of their rivals and a first-time participant. That is precisely why they have little to lose. Every point could be worth gold, both competitively and financially.

The business is a shark tank. Other clubs have more money, better players, larger stadiums and greater global appeal. Yet what can happen in the far north can also happen in a steel city. LASK flew to Athens on Monday in a charter plane, beginning its million-euro campaign in economy class.

There is no reason for fear in Athens. Football and basketball are deeply rooted there, with Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and AEK dominating the city’s sporting culture. The noise, insults and chaos are familiar in Austria too, but not at the same intensity. Robert Ljubičić knows AEK from his two seasons with the club. The atmosphere created by 32,000 spectators is AEK’s greatest force, while major names are absent from the squad.

Please, play with the same refreshing, liberated and courageous style as Bodø/Glimt.

· Markku DatlerThe columnist’s appeal to LASK before its Champions League debut.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Presse in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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