LASK is headed to the Champions League league phase for the first time after turning a four-goal aggregate deficit into a 5-4 victory over Celtic. Samuel Adeniran scored the 109th-minute winner in a 5-1 second-leg victory, completing a recovery that had appeared out of reach when Callum McGregor put Celtic 4-0 ahead across the tie. The Austrian champions will now enter the Champions League league-phase draw.
McGregor’s deflected shot went in after 21 minutes, but LASK answered before halftime. Moses Usor punished a Celtic error in the 32nd minute. Robert Ljubičić drove a low shot in from around 20 meters three minutes after the break, then Adeniran made it 3-1 on the night in the 58th. He struck the bar in the 70th minute with LASK still one goal short of aggregate parity.
UEFA’s match feed recorded a 38-7 advantage in attempts for LASK and an 8-3 edge in shots on target. Celtic held slightly more possession, but LASK produced the chances and kept the tie tilted toward Viljami Sinisalo’s goal. The numbers describe sustained pressure rather than a comeback built from five isolated finishes.
Florian Flecker entered in the 86th minute and changed the tie in stoppage time. Sinisalo saved a close-range header, but Flecker met the rebound and headed in the goal that made it 4-4 on aggregate. VAR upheld it. A tie Celtic had led by four goals now required another 30 minutes.
Adeniran finishes a collective comeback
The decisive passage arrived in the 109th minute. Kryštof Daněk found Adeniran, who drove a low shot from about 25 meters to give LASK its first aggregate lead of the tie. Sinisalo saved his penalty six minutes later, denying him a hat trick but not changing the outcome.
Before LASK signed him in January 2025, the Houston-born American’s career had taken him through MLS stops in Seattle, St. Louis and Philadelphia. Adeniran scored twice, then had a penalty saved. His winner capped a team performance, not a solo rescue.
Usor began LASK’s five-goal run, Ljubičić tightened the margin and Flecker delivered within minutes of coming on. LASK entered the night without a victory in its previous 11 UEFA competition matches. It left as the first LASK team to qualify for the Champions League league phase.
For Celtic, the ending adds another late Champions League exit to their recent history, including the stoppage-time defeat that ended their 2025 run, but this one came from a position of command. “We got what we deserved,” McGregor said. “We were passive all night. We looked scared to go and win the game.” Martin O’Neill was equally direct: “We didn’t do it at the end and that’s my responsibility.” Celtic now enter the Europa League league phase.
LASK began the season as Austria’s reigning league-and-cup double winners, their first double since 1965. Qualification adds eight Champions League matches to that domestic achievement. LASK needed five unanswered goals, and every one changed the tie. Adeniran scored the last, but the first four are why one strike in extra time could make club history. It was the kind of risk-heavy knockout match that has also shaped Atlético Madrid’s recent Champions League evolution.
