LASK vs Liverpool: Champions League Preview

LASK vs Liverpool kicks off at the Raiffeisen Arena on Wednesday evening, with both clubs looking to build on contrasting starts to the 2026/27 Champions League league phase. Kick-off is 18:45 SAST (16:45 UTC), and English official Tobias Stieler takes charge.

Liverpool sit 15th in the 36-team league phase table after a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid on matchday one. LASK are 27th, pointless after a 1-0 defeat away at AEK Athens. South African football fans follow the Premier League and the Champions League closely, and on paper this is a tie Liverpool are expected to control. But LASK’s European pedigree this season means it is unlikely to be a comfortable night in Linz.

What time does LASK vs Liverpool kick off?

The match kicks off at 18:45 SAST (16:45 UTC) on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz, Austria. It is LASK’s first home match of this season’s league phase.

What is the team news for Liverpool?

Liverpool travel to Austria without several first-team options. Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Dominik Szoboszlai are all still sidelined by fitness issues carried from international duty. Manager Andoni Iraola said after Saturday’s 3-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester City that none of the trio had trained with the group. Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni remain longer-term absentees. Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo were left out of Liverpool’s Champions League league-phase squad list entirely, so both are ineligible for the competition this season.

Iraola named a 23-man travelling squad and has signalled changes to the starting line-up. Player freshness is one reason, and the schedule is another: this is only the second of nine matches for Liverpool in 28 days, with a trip to Brentford on Saturday and a home game against Villarreal next Tuesday. The manager also praised winger Bradley Barcola, saying his understanding with teammates will keep improving the more he plays, which points to a recall in attack.

What is the team news for LASK?

LASK head into the game with their own selection worries. Defender George Bello and forward Moses Usor were both substituted during Saturday’s 2-0 Austrian Bundesliga defeat to leaders Rapid Wien, and their fitness for Wednesday is uncertain. Midfielder Ramiz Harakate has been unavailable since tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in July and remains a long-term absence.

LASK coach Dietmar Kühbauer has made no secret of the scale of the task. “It would be a shame if we were to freeze at the mere mention of their name,” he said of facing Liverpool, adding that an upset would need a top-class performance from every outfield starter and from the substitutes who come on. Despite Saturday’s defeat, LASK still sit third in the Austrian Bundesliga, a sign of a side capable of asking questions of bigger opponents on a good night.

How did LASK reach the Champions League league phase?

LASK are only the fifth Austrian club to reach the league phase proper, following Red Bull Salzburg, Sturm Graz, Rapid Wien and Austria Wien. They got there the hard way, beating Celtic 5-4 on aggregate in the play-off round despite losing the first leg 3-0, a comeback built on a second-leg performance in Linz. Forward Christoph Lang, a 24-year-old with 10 goals and two assists in 13 appearances this season, scored in that run and has since earned his first senior Austria caps, including a goal against Kosovo. Samuel Adeniran, who joined what is now the Steven Gerrard Academy at 16, also scored in the second leg against Celtic and gives LASK a second attacking outlet to watch.

That giant-killing credential sits alongside a tougher recent European record. LASK have not won any of their last nine group-stage or league-phase matches in Europe. Their home form in continental football is more competitive, though: seven wins, seven draws and only two defeats in their last 16 matches at the Raiffeisen Arena. Against English opposition specifically, the record reads one draw and five defeats in six games. History favours Liverpool heavily, even before Wednesday’s team news is factored in.

Have LASK and Liverpool met before?

Yes, twice, in the 2023-24 Europa League group stage, and Liverpool won both. LASK took an early lead in the first meeting in Linz but lost 3-1 as Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah scored for the visitors. Liverpool were even more emphatic in the return fixture at Anfield, winning 4-0 with Cody Gakpo scoring twice. Those results, two seasons ago, are the only previous competitive meetings between the sides, and defender Kasper Jorgensen has called Wednesday’s rematch “the biggest game for me at this time in my career,” expecting a tough match regardless of the history.

What would a result mean for the Champions League table?

A Liverpool win would move them to six points from two games, well inside the top eight that guarantee a straight run to the round of 16. That would mirror the position they held after beating Atletico Madrid on matchday one. A LASK win, by contrast, would be their first points of the campaign. It would be the sort of result that could define their European season, though there would still be plenty of work to do, since 36 clubs are competing across eight league-phase matchdays this season. For context, Liverpool’s domestic form has been shakier than their continental form. Saturday’s home defeat to Manchester City was their first league loss of the season, a reminder that Iraola’s side are not yet firing on all fronts. That is part of why LASK’s manager sees an opening, however slim.

Liverpool’s Champions League matchday two team news is covered in full by the club, including the squad list and Iraola’s press conference (liverpoolfc.com).

Liverpool’s below-par domestic form continued over the weekend, when they went down 3-0 at home to Manchester City; see our match report for how that game unfolded. For the rest of this week’s fixtures, kick-off times and previews, check our Champions League predictions hub, and follow tonight’s action as it happens on our live scores page.

Liverpool’s latest league game was a 2-1 win at Brentford; read our Brentford vs Liverpool report.

Frequently asked questions about LASK vs Liverpool

Related: read our Liverpool vs Villarreal preview.