Neither coach opted to make changes at the break and sent the same teams back onto the pitch for the second half. Liverpool began to ramp up the pressure, with Núñez weaving his way into the box but failing to find sufficient space to get a shot away (50’). With the Linzers now camped in and around their penalty area, the English outfit began to lay siege to the home team’s goal and eventually restored parity at 1-1 when Núñez slotted home a spot-kick following a foul in the penalty area on Díaz by Philipp Ziereis (56’). LASK responded strongly and almost re-established their lead in the 58^th minute when Elias Havel drew a save from Caoimhin Kelleher, with Virgil van Dijk forced to scramble the ball clear. An even better opportunity fell to the Linzers a matter of minutes later, only for Ljubičić to fire at the outstretched leg of Kelleher from point-blank range. The hosts were made to pay for that profligacy soon after when Díaz completed the turnaround and fired the hosts in front with 63 minutes on the clock.

LASK boss Sageder responded to the goal by bringing on two pairs of fresh legs in Moussa Koné and Ibrahim Mustapha, with goal-getter Ljubičić and youngster Havel making way, but it did little to turn the tide as a dominant Liverpool continued to push forward – especially after the introduction of Salah, who drew a save from Lawal within seconds of making his entrance from the substitutes’ bench (76). The Egyptian cut a lively figure on the right flank for the Reds and saw several promising through-balls cut out by the alert LASK rearguard, but he eventually found the net by slotting home from a tight angle with two minutes to spare to seal a 3-1 victory for the visitors. LASK will next be in UEFA Europa League action when they pay a visit to France to take on Ligue 1 side Toulouse – who drew their opening game 1-1 away to Belgian outfit Union Saint-Gilloise – in a fortnight’s time.

The line-ups

LASK: Lawal; Ziereis, Andrade, Luckeneder (Darboe, 80’); Flecker (Ba, 89’), Horvath, Jovičić, Renner (Bello, 89’); Havel (Mustapha, 68’), Žulj, Ljubičić (Koné, 68’)

Subs: Siebenhandl; Talovierov, Balić, Usor, Ljubicic, Stojković, Goiginger

Yellow cards: Havel (42’), Žulj (45’), Ziereis (56’)

Goals: Flecker (14’)

Liverpool: Kelleher; Endo (Mac Allister, 61’), van Dijk, Konaté (Matip, 81’), Díaz, Núñez, Elliott, Tsimikas, Gravenberch (Salah, 74’), Bajcetic (Gomez, 61’), Doak (Szoboszlai, 61’)

Subs: Becker, Jaroš, Jones, Gakpo, Jota, Robertson, Quansah

Yellow cards: Konaté (40’), Bajcetic (43’)

Goals: Núñez (56’, pen.), Díaz (63’), Salah (88’)

Author: TOB