Liverpool make the trip to Austria to face LASK at the Raiffeisen Arena for their first Europa League action. LASK and Liverpool are joined by Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and Toulouse in Group E.
After seven games in their domestic league the Austrian Bundesliga, LASK have four wins, two draws, one loss and 14 points, leaving them third. In terms of form, in their last five games, four wins and one draw. The wins included, a 2 - 0 win over Austria Wien, a 2 - 0 win over Austria Lustenau, a 5 - 4 win over SK Dynamo and a 3 - 1 win over Austria Klagenfurt.
In order to get into the Europa League, LASK had to get through the Play-off round. In this round, LASK faced Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Zrinjski. In the first leg, LASK’s Robert Zulj scored twice in the first 12 minutes so despite Nemanja Bilbija’s late goal, LASK took the 2 - 1 win at home. In the second leg both Bilbija converted a penalty in the first half to give Zrinjski the lead, but a Branko Jovicic goal just after halftime grabbed a 1 - 1 draw for LASK and a 3 - 2 win on aggregate and the spot in the Europa League.
Liverpool currently sit third in the Premier League after five games. The Reds have four wins and one draw, leaving them on 13 points, two points adrift of top of the league. Liverpool opened their season with a 1 - 1 draw with Chelsea. Luis Dias opened the scoring for Liverpool, but Axel Disasi equalised for Chelsea and despite both teams scoring again, both were disallowed for offside. Liverpool then faced Bournemouth, who were immediately given the lead after three minutes due to a goal from Antoine Semenyo. However, Dias, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota all scored with Alexis Mac Allister being shown a red, giving Liverpool the 3 -1 win.
The trip to Newcastle saw Liverpool down to ten men again as Virgil van Dijk was sent off just minutes after Anthony Gordon put Newcastle ahead. Darwin Nunez came to the rescue with a double right at the death for the 2 - 1 win. Dominik Szoboszlai and Salah scored along with an own goal from Matty Cash to take the 3 - 0 win against Aston Villa and despite Hwang Hee-chan putting Wolves ahead, Cody Gakpo, Andrew Robertson and a Hugo Bueno own goal gave Liverpool the 3 - 1 win.
The Reds qualified for the Europa League directly from their league position. With 19 wins, ten draws and nine losses, Liverpool finished fifth, putting them straight into the Europa League Group stage.
LASK and Liverpool have never met before, but based on the side’s difference in European football history, Liverpool are likely to grab their first win of the Europa League season. LASK have a more recent history in European football, consistently appearing in either the Europa League or the Europa Conference League, but the furthest they’ve ever gone in the Round of 16. Liverpool on the other hand, have won the Europa League three times in 1973, 1976 and 2001.