Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League play-off round match is the first time that Celtic and LASK have faced each other in a competitive match.

Yet, it was only the toss of a coin which prevented that clash happening back in 1963 when both clubs were in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup.

Celtic recorded an emphatic 10-1 aggregate win over FC Basel in the first round, while LASK’s tie with Dinamo Zagreb finished 1-1. The winner was thus decided by a coin toss, and Dinamo Zagreb called correctly to set up a second round meeting with Celtic.

Jimmy McGrory’s Celtic side won that tie 4-2 on aggregate, progressing to the semi-final of the competition before losing 4-3 on aggregate to MTK Budapest despite having won the first leg 3-0 at Celtic Park.

LASK’s meeting with Dinamo Zagreb was also their first foray into European football, and ahead of Wednesday’s match against Celtic, the official match programme takes a brief look at their European history, starting with the match against the side from the former Yugoslavia…

FIRST EURO TIE

LASK’s first ever European tie came on October 9, 1963 in the first round of the Cup-Winners’ Cup, when they played host to Dinamo Zagreb. A crowd of just over 5,400 gathered in the Linzer Stadion, Linz for the match, which the Austrian side won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Hermann Furst. LASK had qualified for the tournament despite losing the Austrian Cup final, given that the winners, Austria Vienna, also won the league title. The return match in Zagreb finished 1-0 in the home side’s favour, and with no further scoring after extra-time, the tie was decided by the toss of a coin, which fell in favour of Dinamo Zagreb. It was an arbitrary and awful way to get knocked out, and seven years later, UEFA changed it for a penalty shoot-out following representations from Celtic after they had WON a coin toss tie against Benfica in the European Cup in September 1969.

THE SCOTTISH CONNECTION

LASK’S first meeting with Scottish opposition came in the second round of the UEFA Cup back in 1985/86 when they faced Dundee United. The Scottish side won the first leg 2-1 in Austria thanks to goals from Billy Kirkwood and an Eamonn Bannon penalty, and then completed the job with a 5-1 win at Tannadice when Tommy Coyne scored a double. And in the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League, LASK faced St Johnstone in the play-off round. The first leg in Austria finished 1-1, but the return leg at McDiarmid Park saw LASK record a 2-0 victory to reach the group stages (main image). LASK also played Partick Thistle in the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup, drawing 2-2 in a group game in Austria.

TOP TOURNAMENT

LASK’s reward for winning their first Austrian league title in 1965 was entry into the European Cup, and they faced Polish side, Górnik Zabrze, in the play-off round. LASK lost 3-1 at home in the first leg and then suffered a 2-1 defeat in the second leg in Poland. And in 2019/20, LASK were in the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League. In the third qualifying round, they beat FC Basel 3-1 at home and then delivered a 2-1 win in Switzerland to set up a play-off clash with Club Brugge. And it was the Belgian side who progressed, as LASK lost both legs for a 3-1 aggregate defeat.

PROGRESS REPORT

In the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League, LASK found themselves in a group alongside Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven and Rosenborg, producing an impressive campaign to top the group. From there, they face a round of 32 clash with AZ Alkmaar, and an impressive 3-1 aggregate victory set up a round of 16 tie against Manchester United. And that proved to be a step too far for the Austrian side, who lost 7-1 on aggregate. More recently, LASK reached the last 16 of the UEFA Europa Conference League, losing 7-5 on aggregate to Slavia Prague.

Countdown to kick-off: LASK in Europe