Der Schiedsrichter war nicht wirklich in Form, aber wir haben uns nicht auf ihn ausreden müssen.
The Linz team's victory against their Portuguese "favourite opponents" - the Upper Austrians had already won the last two encounters with the Lisbon team seven and eight years ago respectively - was also so impressive because everything went against them on Wednesday evening.
Scottish referee Nick Walsh and his team were primarily responsible for this.
"The referee wasn't really in form, but we didn't have to use him as an excuse," said a still diplomatic Sasa Kalajdzic. Walsh "didn't show a bad performance, but it wasn't good either. But we delivered a good performance."
Controversial Penalty, Overlooked Fouls
The 35-year-old referee repeatedly fell for the theatrical antics of the Portuguese home team. Nestory Irankunda, for example, took off in the LASK penalty area after just a few minutes, clearly seeking contact with the passing Robert Ljubicic. Walsh immediately pointed to the spot, VAR official Stuart Attwell even checked it, but upheld the decision.
Shortly before halftime, the theatrical "Lions" almost conned their way into a corner kick by falsely indicating to Walsh that a LASK player had touched the ball last. The Scottish official was again misled, but this time the VAR intervened.
In the second half, striker Luis Suarez also escaped a card after a risky tackle against Lukas Jungwirth, who was knocked out in that action. Shortly before the end, in the build-up to the 2-3 goal, Walsh overlooked a body check by Flavio Goncalves against Alessandro Schöpf, and again the VAR had no objections.
Kalajdzic Beside Himself: "That's Insane!"
"I'm not accusing him (Suarez, ed.) of intent, but he runs into our goalkeeper, who then has to be substituted, and there's no card. That's insane!" Kalajdzic said, quite angry.
He stated: "Every piece of nonsense is whistled against us, but nothing is whistled for us."
Coach Kühbauer commented on the controversial situations with a noticeably cool demeanor this time, simply saying about the highly disputed penalty: "There was already a foul on 'Sali' (Kalajdzic, ed.) before that, which should have been called. The penalty was very harsh, in my opinion, but after a 3-2 score, he can have it."
Kühbauer: "I have to give my team incredible praise"
Of course, the anger over the referee in the black-and-white camp is overshadowed by the joy of the historic achievement.
"I am very proud of the team that we fought with everything we had and deservedly won," said Kalajdzic.
Kühbauer added: "When you get a penalty after one minute and you know that Sporting hadn't lost a game before, I have to give my team incredible praise. They kept going."
The victory was also achieved because the double winner (LASK) brought their strengths onto the field for the first time in a long while, just as they did for large parts of spring or even against Celtic.
High Pressing, Deadly Transitions
"Our goal today was to play our game. Although we started the match very poorly, we always had self-confidence and tried to play our game. If we can bring that onto the pitch, we are also a good team internationally," said Christoph Lang.
"That was the difference from the game against Liverpool, where we stood too deep in our zones. We knew they have problems when we press them higher," Kühbauer explained.
Thanks to their first three points in the "King's Class" (Champions League), the "Athletes" (LASK) have now jumped to 24th place in the table and currently find themselves in a precarious position for advancing. For this endeavor to succeed, they will likely need at least six more points in their black-and-white account.
After Wednesday's performance, these (points) suddenly no longer seem so unlikely.
