LASK Are No Mugs – But Celtic Have The Firepower To Bury Last Year’s Champions League Ghosts

There is a scar from this stage of the Champions League that Celtic supporters don’t need reminding about.

Kairat Almaty.

Two matches, 210 minutes including extra-time, not a single Celtic goal, before going out on penalties.

It was a dreadful way to miss out on the Champions League and, statistically, it really was as grim as we remember – two 0-0 draws.

I’m telling you right now, I don’t think that happens again.

This Celtic team will score goals against LASK.

But before anybody starts thinking the Austrian champions are simply another qualifier Celtic should brush aside, it’s worth understanding exactly how they got here.

Because their story last season was remarkable.

LASK hadn’t been Austrian champions since 1965. In fact, that was their only previous league title.

When Dietmar Kühbauer took over last October, they were second bottom of the Austrian Bundesliga.

What followed was an extraordinary turnaround, culminating in a 3-0 victory away to Austria Vienna on the final day to win their League.

They did what Hearts over here couldn’t do.

They won the Austrian Cup too.

That’s some season.

And there are players Celtic need to be wary of.

Moses Usor was LASK’s leading scorer last season, while Samuel Adeniran also reached double figures. Adeniran scored the penalty in that title-clinching victory and offers a real physical threat.

However, Celtic should still have faith.

I’ve been extremely critical of the club’s recruitment when I think it’s warranted, but let’s also acknowledge what has changed since Kairat.

Camilo Duran has arrived after scoring 15 goals for Qarabag last season, including five in the Champions League.

Celtic then smashed their transfer record to bring in Kasper Høgh, a striker who already has considerable European experience and scored 53 goals in 102 appearances for Bodø/Glimt.

These are precisely the type of players Celtic needed for nights like Wednesday.

Haissem Hassan and Mika Baur have subsequently arrived too.

There is considerably more attacking quality available to Martin O’Neill than Celtic possessed when they somehow failed to break Kairat down over two legs last August.

That doesn’t mean everything is rosy.

Arne Engels is a massive miss. I would have started him on Wednesday without hesitation.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being unavailable through suspension removes another experienced midfielder from O’Neill’s options. Against a side who have just fought their way from second-bottom to champions in a matter of months, that experience would have been useful.

All the pressure remember, is on Celtic here.

And then there was Tannadice.

Look at the scoreline alone and Celtic’s 4-0 victory over Dundee United appears the perfect preparation.

It wasn’t quite that simple.

United hit the woodwork five times.

Five!

Celtic were ruthless at the other end, with Duran getting his first competitive goal alongside strikes from Auston Trusty, Sebastien Tounekti and Benjamin Nygren, but Wednesday’s opposition are Austrian champions.

Give LASK those opportunities and we might not get away with it.

That’s my biggest concern going into this tie.

Not whether Celtic can score.

I think we will.

The question is whether Celtic can marry this new attacking threat with the concentration and defensive discipline required in Champions League football.

Because Wednesday is why Duran was signed.

It’s why Celtic broke their transfer record for Høgh.

It’s why supporters have spent the summer demanding players capable of immediately improving this team rather than projects who might be ready in 18 months.

Last year Celtic approached this exact hurdle and couldn’t score a single goal.

This time we’ve got a £6million striker who scored five Champions League goals last season and an £11million club-record striker who followed being the Europa top scorer in Season 24/25 with five Champions League goals of his own.

LASK deserve enormous respect. You don’t come from second-bottom in October, win a domestic double and become champions for the first time in 61 years by accident.

But Celtic Park under the lights in a Champions League play-off shouldn’t be comfortable for them either.

We’ve strengthened specifically to be better prepared for nights like this.

Now it’s time to prove it.