AEK Athens 1-0 LASK: Marin's free kick is enough on a tight opening night

AEK Athens opened their Champions League league phase with the kind of scoreline that undersells how little either side gave away. Razvan Marin's 21st-minute free kick, curled in from around 20 yards, was the only goal to separate AEK and LASK at the OPAP Arena — now Agia Sophia Stadium — on matchday 1.

It should have been more comfortable than a single goal suggests. Luka Jović thought he had doubled AEK's lead later in the half, only for VAR to intervene and rule the goal out after Charalampos Majer was caught offside in the build-up. LASK had their moment too, deep into the second half, when Sasa Kalajdzic rose for a header that might have snatched a point — it did not find the target, and AEK's goalkeeper Andre Brignoli, who finished the night with three saves, did not need to make the decisive stop.

A first taste of the new format for both clubs

Neither AEK nor LASK are strangers to European competition — AEK reached a Champions League quarter-final in 1968-69, back when the tournament was still a straight knockout among domestic champions, while LASK have been regulars in the Europa and Conference League picture in recent seasons. For both, though, a place in the 36-club league phase itself is the newer experience, and a first win of the campaign, even a narrow one built on a single moment of quality, is the ideal way into it.

Match facts

• 21' — Razvan Marin (AEK Athens)
• Agia Sophia Stadium, Athens — Champions League league phase, matchday 1, Tuesday 8 September 2026

What's next

AEK Athens carry three points and a clean sheet into the rest of the league phase, a solid platform before the schedule gets tougher. LASK, who limited a home side to a single converted chance across 90 minutes and still had a late header of their own, leave Athens with nothing to show for a performance that offered enough for their own supporters to take something from.