Górnik Zabrze – Lech Poznań 1:2 

A week ago, the team from Poznań defeated Radomiak Radom 1:0 in a home clash before traveling to Israel where they faced Hapoel Beer Sheva in the Europa Conference League (1:1). To top off the intense week, Lech had an away league game in Zabrze.

Lech traveled straight from Israel to Upper Silesia to prepare for the Sunday match against Górnik. Despite having more time to rest, as opposed to having to travel from Poznań to Zabrze, coach John van den Brom decide to make changes in the starting line-up. The first eleven included the likes of Adriel Ba Loua and Filip Marchwiński, whereas Filipa Dagerstal was missing as a result of the injury he sustained in the match against Hapoel.

Despite the rotations in the squad, Lech looked well in the opening minutes and as early as in the 4^th minute they found the back of the net for the first time. Mikael Ishak surprised Górnik’s keeper with a perfect shot from outside the box. The hosts responded very quickly with an equalizer when they were awarded a controversial penalty kick which Szymon Włodarczyk converted into a goal.

Lech remained in possession of the ball for the majority of the first half but failed to beat Daniel Bielica again. The team from Poznań had numerous goal-scoring chances, however, most of them were wasted. Kristoffer Velde had a perfect chance to score but he failed to tap the ball into the net from a close distance.

Finally, John van den Brom’s squad managed to change the score when they were given a penalty kick. Referee Frankowski awarded the guests with the set piece following a long video verification process. Lech’s captain effortlessly converted the scoring opportunity into a goal and set the final score to 2:1. The hosts tried equalizing in the last 20 minutes of the match, but Lech defended well. Filip Bednarek also played a crucial role with his impressive interventions.

The win against Górnik isn’t the end of Lech’s match marathon – on Wednesday, the team from Poznań will face Śląsk Wrocław in a Polish Cup match (8:30 pm) at Bułgarska Street, and on the weekend, they will play against Cracovia in Cracow (Sunday, 5:30 pm).

Górnik Zabrze - Lech Poznań 1:2 (1:1)

Goals: Włodarczyk (10. – penalty) - Ishak (4., 67. – penalty)

Górnik Zabrze: Daniel Bielica - Kryspin Szcześniak (90. Aleksander Paluszek), Emil Bergstrom, Richard Jensen - Robert Dadok (62. Paweł Olkowski), Blaz Vrhovec (79. Dani Pacheco), Jonatan Kotzke, Erik Janza - Kanji Okunuki, Szymon Włodarczyk (46. Mateusz Cholewiak), Lukas Podolski

Lech Poznań: Filip Bednarek - Alan Czerwiński, Lubomir Satka, Antonio Milic, Pedro Rebocho - Adriel Ba Loua (81. Filip Szymczak), Radosław Murawski (76. Jesper Karlstrom), Filip Marchwiński, Nika Kvekveskiri, Kristoffer Velde (88. Joel Pereira) - Mikael Ishak