LASK win 3-2 at Sporting despite Luis Suárez double
LASK scored twice in five second-half minutes to beat Sporting 3-2 at the José Alvalade Stadium, with Luis Suárez scoring both home goals.
By Harvey Watkins,
LASK beat Sporting 3-2 at the José Alvalade Stadium on Wednesday night in the third round of Champions League matches. The game turned on a five-minute spell midway through the second half. Christoph Lang, Sasa Kalajdzic and Krystof Danek scored for the visitors. Luis Suárez scored both of Sporting's goals, the first from the penalty spot inside five minutes and the second a minute from the end of normal time.
An early lead that did not last
On the scoreboard, Sporting could not have asked for a better start. Suárez converted a penalty in the fifth minute to put the home side ahead. The lead lasted ten minutes. Lang equalised for LASK in the 15th minute.
There were no further goals for the rest of the half, so the sides went in level at 1-1. That quiet spell ran on for almost three quarters of an hour of playing time before the game changed sharply.
Five minutes that settled it
Kalajdzic put LASK in front in the 63rd minute. Danek added a third five minutes later. In the space of 300 seconds the visitors had turned a level game into a two-goal lead, with more than 20 minutes of normal time still to play.
A scoreline cannot show how those goals came about, and it would be wrong to claim more than it does. What it does show is that LASK scored three times in a single match away from home against opponents who had led early. Over a European night, that is the most telling thing about their performance.
A late reply from Suárez
Suárez scored again in the 89th minute, his second of the night, to bring Sporting within a goal. It came too late to change the outcome, and the result stood at 3-2. For Sporting there is some small credit in a forward scoring twice in a Champions League match. It did not offset the damage done in that second-half spell.
The record between the clubs
This was the third meeting between the sides and the first since 2019. They met twice that year, and each side won at home. Sporting beat LASK 2-1 in October, and LASK won 3-0 in December.
Wednesday's result means LASK have now won two of the three meetings, and it is the first away win for either side in the fixture. Across the three games LASK have scored seven goals to Sporting's four.
The caveat is obvious. Almost seven years separate the earlier meetings from this one, and that gap is too wide to treat the head-to-head as a meaningful trend. It records what happened. It says little about what comes next.
What it amounts to
One result, decided by a single goal, is a modest basis for broad conclusions. The margin was narrow, and Suárez's late goal kept it that way. Still, the shape of the night is clear enough. Sporting led and were pegged back quickly. LASK then struck twice in quick succession, and that proved decisive. Whether the second-half burst says something lasting about either side will only become clear over the matches still to come.