LASK Champions Start Strong but Keeper Warns of Complacency

Lukas Jungwirth walked off the Raiffeisen Arena pitch with another clean sheet, another win, and a warning.

LASK have started their title defence exactly as champions should: two games, two victories, a controlled 2-0 success over Austria Wien on Sunday to back up their opening-day triumph. The scoreboard looks ruthless. The goalkeeper insists the performance was anything but.

Champions rolling, keeper restless

The Linz side, fresh from finishing ahead of Sturm Graz to lift last season’s Austrian crown, have wasted no time asserting themselves again in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga. Against Austria Wien, they did what top sides do: managed the game, took their chances, and never truly let the result slip from their grasp.

Yet Jungwirth, standing behind it all, saw the cracks.

Around the spell when Austria Wien had a goal ruled out for offside, LASK lost their edge. They stroked the ball around, trusted possession to protect them, and switched off in the moments that mattered most.

“Around the time of the offside goal, we relied too much on possession and weren't mentally prepared for Austria's counter-attacks,” Jungwirth said, speaking with the bluntness of someone who knows what lies ahead.

The warning was clear: this kind of lapse will not go unpunished for long.

Celtic on the horizon

Because the next stage of LASK’s season is not another domestic skirmish. It is Celtic. It is the Champions League play-off. It is a tie that will define the early shape of their campaign.

The first leg at Celtic Park will throw the Austrian champions into a very different kind of storm. The second leg in Linz will carry the weight of a season’s ambition.

Waiting for them is a Celtic attack rebuilt with intent. Kasper Hogh and Camilo Duran have already arrived to sharpen Martin O’Neill’s frontline, with Haissem Hassan poised to add yet more threat. The Hoops, already a force at home, now carry fresh weapons.

Jungwirth never named them. He did not need to. His message cut straight through: play like this against stronger opposition, and you suffer.

“We also need to be more clinical at the end; we might be punished for that against other opponents,” he admitted.

The subtext was obvious. Celtic are exactly that kind of opponent.

Demanding more from a winning side

For all the criticism, Jungwirth is no doom-monger. He knows what this LASK team can do; last season’s title proved that. Confidence still runs high in a squad that has already shown it can outlast and outplay Sturm Graz over the course of a campaign.

He also understands that winning while still finding fault is the mark of a serious side.

“I think if you go home with a 2-0 win as the favourites, you can definitely be satisfied,” he said.

Satisfied, yes. Comfortable, no.

LASK have opened their season with the swagger of champions, but their goalkeeper has drawn a line in the sand. Against Austria Wien, they got away with drifting into safe, sterile possession and leaving the back door ajar. Against Celtic, that kind of complacency could turn a promising European campaign into a missed opportunity in the space of 90 frantic minutes in Glasgow.

The results say LASK are ready. Jungwirth’s words suggest the real test is only just beginning.