Image via UEFA
Both Pogoń Szczecin and Lechia Gdańsk ran out 4-1 winners in their 1st legs of Europa Conference League Qualifying last night.
Pogoń were at home to KR Reykjavik in the early kick-off, and started well, scoring after just seven minutes through Kamil Drygas. Szczecin doubled their lead nine minutes later through Luka Zahovic, and added a third five minutes before the break through Jakub Bartkowski. Drygas got his second early in the second half before a lapse in concentration from a set piece saw the visitors from Iceland grab a consolation.
Sebastian Kowalczyk was a permanent threat for the home side and looked to attack every time he received the ball, contributing three assists on the night. Pogoń have some great attacking options in their side and hopefully this prolific form can continue into the second leg, and perhaps beyond.
The later kick-off saw Lechia Gdańsk face off against Macedonian side Akademija Pandev. The game was halted in the sixth minute due to fighting amongst the home crowd, which resulted in the match being halted for around half an hour, with constant announcements through the PA that if trouble continued that the match would have to be abandoned in favour of the visiting team.
When the match did get back underway, it felt somewhat secondary to the scenes off the pitch that had preceded it. Flávio Paixão scored a hat-trick, with Łukasz Zwoliński also grabbing one for Lechia. In similar circumstances to the game in Szczecin, they gave away a cheap consolation towards the end of the match.
One of Lechia’s standout players was 19 year-old Jakub Kałuziński, who played at a level beyond his years last night. It’s early in the season, but wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that if he continues performing like he already has, he might well find himself being one of the next moves from the Ekstraklasa to a top European league.
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