AEK Athens 1-0 LASK: result and report

Report

AEK Athens beat LASK 1-0 at home in the Champions League, and the margin undersells how much better they were. Only one goal separated the sides, but the chance numbers point clearly towards the home team.

The goal that settled it

Răzvan Marin scored the only goal of the game on 21 minutes. Nothing changed the scoreline after that, so AEK Athens had to protect a single-goal lead for the rest of the match. Marin was named player of the match with a rating of 8.42, which is fair because his goal decided the game.

The stronger case for AEK Athens is in the quality of their chances. They finished with 1.78 xG to LASK's 0.88, roughly double. They also had twice as many key passes (14 to 7) and more dangerous attacks (49 to 33). Their sustained pressure was far higher across the match, which suggests they spent more of the game in LASK's half.

Still, the finishing was poor at both ends. AEK Athens created four big chances and missed all four, so the winner did not come from one of their best openings. Because of those misses, a game they led on chances stayed at one goal until the end.

LASK: more shots, less threat

LASK took more shots, nine to eight, and had slightly more of the ball. Despite that, their attempts carried far less danger. They had three shots on target and three big chances, missed every one, and their xG stayed below one. AEK Athens made three saves, though LASK rarely created openings good enough to put the result in serious doubt.