Image via Ekstraklasa SA
This evening sees the first two fixtures of the new Ekstraklasa season, which is one of the earliest domestic leagues to start in Europe. Last season’s runners-up Raków Częstochowa start at home against Warta Poznań before what is sure to be an entertaining derby game between Zagłębie Lubin and Śłąsk Wrocław in tonight’s second match.
Raków vs. Warta
Referee Jarosław Przybył (fantastic name) takes charge of the early kick-off at the Piłkarski. Raków have made a seriously meteoric rise in recent years under manager Marek Papszun, and have won the Puchar Polski and Superpuchar in consecutive seasons (the most recent of these being last Saturday). With exciting attackers such as last season’s top scorer and player of the season Ivi Lopez, midfielder Marcin Cebula and Romanian winger Deian Sorescu, they are a great team to watch and I fully expect them to start the season off with a victory here.
Warta Poznań have largely overachieved since their promotion back to the Ekstraklasa in 2020, finishing fifth in 2020-21 and 11th last season. Despite this, Warta have lost some important players this summer, both young exciting players (many of them having been loaned in) and veteran Łukasz Trałka. I expect them to find this season to be the most challenging for them yet, but given they have surpassed expectations so far they might well do it again.
Zagłębie vs. Śłąsk - The Lower Silesian Derby
Zagłębie have a reputation for bringing through and polishing good young players, the latest being Patryk Szysz, who has left for Istanbul Basaksehir. Given he was a real star for the team last season, they might find this year more difficult. That said, they still have good young players like right-back Kacper Chodyna and the versatile attacker Tomasz Pieńko.
Śłąsk are a team with real quality, although last season was disappointing for them as they finished 15th. This summer they have brought in Nahuel Leiva, who is sure to make an immediate impact as a former La Liga player. They have a strong Spanish contingent in this Śłąsk squad and there’s hope that this this latest addition can help power Śłąsk to a high finish.
Whatever happens over the rest of the year, tonight’s derby is sure to be a great game with which to kick-off the season. I’d highly recommend tuning in if you are able, and hopefully the rest of the opening weekend can provide entertainment as well.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when posts go live.
Comments