Even more frustrating, however, was what happened after 21 minutes.
LASK failed to stop an AEK attack, Melayro Bogarde committed a perhaps avoidable foul on the edge of the penalty area - and Razvan Marin curled the ball exquisitely into the top corner for the 1-0 lead.
"Very bitter, he hit it exactly into the top corner," Jungwirth complained.
Kühbauer: "Without our mistakes, AEK could produce little"
LASK did not hide afterwards either, but repeatedly made careless self-inflicted errors and thus could not sustain their periods of pressure long enough.
What AEK produced in front of their home crowd "looked nice," said Kühbauer, "but without our mistakes, AEK actually managed to produce little from open play. One has to be that honest."
160 Decibel Loud Crowd
Immediately after the break, captain Sascha Horvath had an opportunity to equalize but failed with a cheeky attempt at the near post. Afterwards, AEK was the better team for a long time, carried by an enormously loud home crowd.
"I have never seen such appreciative fans as the AEK supporters. The spectators cheer for every action. A truly magnificent crowd," Kühbauer praised.
"Sky" colleague Johannes Brandl measured 160 decibels at the moment of Athens' goal with a decibel meter he brought along; over the 90 minutes, the average volume was around 100 decibels.
Such an atmosphere made communication among themselves virtually impossible, Jungwirth explained: "But the crowd gave us strength. We really caught a second wind towards the end."
Kühbauer: "If it goes on for another 15 minutes, they won't win"
"Ich glaube, dass AEK die Luft ausgegangen wäre. Körperlich waren sie nicht mehr präsent."
Indeed, it seemed as if LASK - similar to their performance against Celtic - was the significantly fitter team. "If it goes on for another ten, 15 minutes, they won't win the game," Kühbauer is sure.
He elaborated: "I believe AEK would have run out of steam. Physically, they were no longer present."
Kalajdzic almost like at the World Cup
There was almost a lucky punch for LASK. Of all people, Sasa Kalajdzic had a huge chance in the second minute of injury time, but this time - unlike at the World Cup against Algeria - he headed over the goal.
"I saw the ball coming down from the goalkeeper's hands. At that moment, I just had to hit it down. I had the feeling that the goalkeeper might still go high, so I wanted to push it up a bit and ended up hitting it too high," Kalajdzic described on "Sky".
A disappointed postscript: "Too bad, because that would have been it."
Kühbauer: "We're still too green behind the ears"
Ultimately, according to Jungwirth's bitter conclusion, "little things decided it today. If they had fallen our way, we would have gone home with three points."
These "little things" also include shortcomings that come with LASK's almost non-existent experience on this stage.
"At this level, you have to do some things much better; you could tell that AEK is more seasoned and experienced. We're still too green behind the ears," Kühbauer opined.
Far from eliminated yet
AEK would have been one of the opponents against whom the Burgenland native (Kühbauer) had hoped for points, he admitted afterwards. Even if the tasks certainly won't get easier, LASK is far from eliminated yet.
"We still have seven more games. We want to take points from those," Jungwirth stated defiantly.
