The Linz stadium is great, but otherwise LASK Linz-Cercle Brugge did not reach a high level. European football? No. Sloppy and sleep-inducing, yes. And then Kévin Denkey also got red just before half time. An exaggerated sanction, but Cercle was able to hold on quite easily. Even surviving the league phase remains possible for the association.
Things are not going well for the Austrian club. LASK is currently only ninth after making a coaching change at the beginning of September. But Markus Schopp, a man who combines the jobs of sporting director and trainer, also cannot really get the team going.
“There is no stability anymore,” Dominik Thalhammer, the ex-trainer of Cercle and KV Oostende, explained to us before the match. Thalhammer is now mainly active as an analyst and consultant. He did not have a good eye for his compatriots, who got off to a good start in their brand new and comfortable but rather sparsely filled stadium, without posing any real danger.
Cercle caught Linz quite well. A donkey doesn’t hit the same stone twice and bearing in mind the defeat against Viklingur, Muslic now opted for a strong starting team. With the recovered Utkus on the left in the three-man defense, but this time again with Abu Francis next to Van der Bruggen and surprisingly Efekele as right wingback. Somers and Minda played in the square midfield in support of Denkey. On paper a 3-4-2-1 and in principle intended to threaten offensively, but that completely failed. The Austrians succeeded much better in this. Fortunately for Cercle, star Horvath kicked straight on Delanghe’s legs.
Red for Denkey
At the end of the first half there was more of a threat from Bruges’ side. Especially on stationary phases. Somers headed in after a corner from Magnée, but Siebenhandl made an excellent save.
Just when Cercle was fighting its way into the match, things went wrong just before half time. Denkey had already received a yellow card and hit Smolcic in the face in an aerial duel. Second yellow and Cercle still have 45 minutes left with ten. And the damage could have been even greater halfway through, but fortunately for green-black, Peter Zulj (ex-Anderlecht) hit the inside of the post and the ball rolled outside again.
Lots of substitutions
Win with ten men. Cercle already did it under Muslic. At Ghent last season, for example. But Green-Black immediately made three substitutions at half-time. Utkus, Efekele and Minda stayed inside – ahead of Nazinho, Agyekum and Felipe. Abu Francis also had to leave slightly injured for De Wilde in a sleep-inducing second half. While the yellow cards for Denkey were still questionable, a yellow card for the good goalkeeping Delanghe, winning before time was justified. Would something still happen in the final quarter? Could LASK still exploit the numerical majority or did Cercle succeed in a hold-up? So another big no. Cercle defended too well for that and LASK played far too little: 0-0. With 4 out of 9, Cercle can even dream of the next round.
