Lech Poznan - FC Basel 1:3

In the first match of the III round of Champions League qualifications Lech Poznan lost with FC Basel at INEA Stadium. Thomalla was the one who scored an equalizer for Lech.

In the first leg of the III round of Champions League qualifications Lech Poznan was hosting FC Basel at INEA Stadium. The lineup of the team from Poznan changed when comparing to the starting eleven of the Saturday game against Lechia Gdansk. Neither did Darko Jevtic, Marcin Robak nor Dariusz Dudka appeared on the pitch to face Basel. Maciej Skorza decided to give a chance to Dariusz Formella, Denis Thomalla and Karol Linetty instead of the mentioned three.

The opening minutes were dominated by the Polish Champions who had their first goal attempt as early as in the 5th minute. Pawlowski won the ball back in the midfielder, sent it to Douglas, while the Scott ran down the flank and passed to Formella. The young midfielder did not hesitate and he sent a shot in the direction of the goal, however the ball flew a few centimeters above the crossbar.

The Swiss were the ones to attack shortly after. Breel Embolo and Birkit Bjarnason both had a chance to put their team on the lead. Shkelzen Gashi tried surprising Buric with a shot from a distance, however the ball flew above the goal.

After a few minutes of intensive attacking by the Swiss team, the Polish Champions moved towards the rival's penalty area. Linetty was the one to recover the ball and he sent to Hamalainen, who, after running a few meters in the direction of the goal, gave the ball to Thomalla. The German forward had only the goalkeeper to beat, but his shot turned out to be inaccurate as it passed the post. Shortly afterwards the hosts had yet another chance to score, but this time Thomalla was the passing player, while the receiver, Pawlowski, was offside according to the linesman.

The Swiss remained waiting to recover the ball and counterattack. In one of such offensive actions Gashi passed Tralka and led the ball into the penalty area, but Bjarnason, who was the one to finish the action, sent an inaccurate shot in the direction of the goal.

The second quarter of the first 45 minutes was intense for both teams. The fans gathered at INEA Stadium on the Wednesday evening were witnessing an exhilarating clash between the two teams. Just as the pace of the match seemed to be at its highest, the result changed. In the 34th minute Lang put his team on the lead following a well-played-out corner kick.

However, the Basel fans did no rejoice for long, because shortly afterwards the scoreboard was showing a tie once more. Douglas sent a center into the penalty area, but it was blocked. Nonetheless, it was not the end of Lech's offensive action because Pawlowski recovered the ball and sent a massive shot flying in the direction of the goal. The ball hit the crossbar, but Thomalla was in the right place at the right time and he headed the ball into the back of the net. In end though, the goal was agreed to have been scored by Pawlowski who's shot did cross the goal line.

Neither of the coaches made any substitutions at halftime, and therefore the two team came to play for the second 45 minutes in the very same arrangement. Fischer's footballers dominated the opening minutes of the second half, however Lech was defending its goal successfully, and so the Swiss had trouble converting their goal attempts into actual goals. In the 56th minute the hosts had a chance of their own when Robak recovered the ball and gave it to Pawlowski, but the latters cross into the penalty area was slightly too strong.

Soon after the game became focused rather in the midfield than closer to any of the goals. However, in 67th minute the referee took a controversial decision by calling a penalty after Kedziora's foul on one of the attacking players and sending the young right-back off. Basel had a perfect opportunity to change the result to 2:1, but Buric proved to be better than Gashi and the goalkeeper stopped the penalty kick, bringing relief to the fans gathered at INEA Stadium.

Lech's defense seemed to be solid, however a single moment of inattention turned out to be fatal for the hosts. Kadar did not block the cross that landed in Lech's penalty area, but instead he redirected and it fell right by Janko's feet. The forward had no trouble placing the ball in the net and so once again the Swiss were leading.

Despite playing in 10 men, Lech remained eager to equalize and created multiple chance to score the second goal. However, neither did Robak, nor Douglas convert the opportunities they had into an equalizer.

The referee added 4 minutes and once again the Swiss players found a way to place the ball in the net. This time it was Davide Calla that used Lech's moment of inattention and despite Kadar's desperate efforts to stop the attacking player, the footballer sent the ball flying past Buric and into the net.

Lech Poznań - FC Basel 1:3 (1:1) 

Goals: Pawlowski (35.) - Lang (34.), Janko (78.), Calla (90.+2)

Yellow cards: Thomalla, Linetty,  Kadar

Red cards: Kędziora - Xhana

Lech: Jamin Burić - Tomasz Kędziora, Tamas Kadar, Marcin Kamiński, Barry Douglas - Łukasz Trałka, Karol Linetty - Dariusz Formella (69. Kebba Ceesay), Kasper Hamalainen (75. Gergo Lovrencsics), Szymon Pawłowski - Denis Thomalla (55. Marcin Robak)

FC Basel: Tomas Vaclik - Michael Lang, Mathias Daniel Hoegh, Marek Suchy, Behrang Safari - Zdravko Kuzmanović (87. Mohamed Eleny), Taulant Xhaka - Birkir Bjarnason, Luca Zuffi, Shkelzen Gashi (75. Davide Calla)- Donald Breel Embolo (62. Marc Janko)

Spectators: 25 748