Images via @FCBarcelona, @ASRomaEN, @PrzemekSzyszka and @juventusfcen on Twitter
Big games had Polish participation yesterday as the knockout stages of the Europa League and the Europa Conference League kicked-off. Not only was the captain of the Polish national team in action, but so was their goalkeeper, one of their rising stars and the current domestic champions. Read on to find out how they all did:
Robert Lewandowski - FC Barcelona 2-2 Manchester United
By far the biggest game of the evening, Lewandowski was responsible for the home side’s first real chance as he forced a decent save from David De Gea after ten minutes. The opposition looked to break up the flow of the first half by getting themselves lots of free-kicks, some of which were particularly soft, but more on that later.
In the second half, Barcelona took the lead from a corner before quickly conceding two goals to find themselves suddenly losing. The equaliser involved Lewandowski, as Raphinha drove a low ball into the box, and despite Lewy trying to make contact with the ball it simply passed by everyone into the bottom corner. He had a couple of other chances, including a great free-kick, but it was not to be.
Lewandowski’s touch let him down occasionally, but the lack of service to him from the right side of the pitch was alarming. It doesn’t matter who is on that right wing, be it Dembele, Raphinha or Ferran Torres but crosses into Lewy are rare. Presumably this is Xavi’s instruction, but considering their goal from open play came because of a ball into the box from that side, it doesn’t make sense that Barcelona don’t do this more often.
It was a game close to being marred by the refereeing team, as during the first half they gave far too many decisions the way of the away team, before flipping it on its head in the second half and giving the home side the majority of decisions. However, when there was arguably a handball against Fred, which would have led to a late penalty, VAR declined to even take a look despite it appearing on the replay that the Brazilian midfielder moved his arm towards the ball.
Lewy will have a chance to get a first career goal against Manchester United next week at Old Trafford, in what will be just his second game against the English club in his career (last night being the first). The Europa League is the one trophy Barcelona have never won in their history, so they may well go all out in order to try and secure it.
Nicola Zalewski - RB Salzburg 1-0 Roma
Zalewski had a strong individual game, but his team were left to rue missed chances when they fell asleep during the last five minutes and allowed a run from midfield, resulting in a nod into the net and a narrow loss.
Zalewski put in a number of great crosses from corners as well as from open play onto the head of Tammy Abraham, but the English striker was unable to direct any of these chances past the goalkeeper.
It’s not inconceivable that Roma turn this around at the Stadio Olimpico, but Salzburg are not a poor team and the Giallorossi will have to be far more clinical in the second leg.
Bodo/Glimt 0-0 Lech Poznań
In the first European knockout tie featuring a Polish side for six years, Lech somehow got out of Norway without conceding a goal. The home side had unbelievable amounts of pressure, particularly in the first half, but Lech just about managed to keep their heads above water in the Arctic Circle. Filip Marchwiński could’ve made the result even better for the visitors but he contrived to put the ball over the bar from six yards out. I think we’ve all been very patient with Marchwiński but I can’t see him making it at Lech if he continues to blow chances like that one, and at 21 years of age it might be time for him to move to a different Ekstraklasa club in order to get his confidence up, as I’m not sure he is at the required standard for Lech at this point in time.
Nevertheless, 0-0 is a fantastic result for Lech and they will play the second leg in Poznań full of confidence given how strong they’ve been at home in Europe this season. Most casual viewers would still say Bodo/Glimt are favourites for the tie, and I would agree, but I think that Lech are more than capable of giving it a real go at Bułgarska.
Wojciech Szczęsny - Juventus 1-1 Nantes
It’s always difficult to analyse the performance of a goalkeeper when they have nothing to do all game but still end up conceding a goal through no fault of their own. Juventus paid the price for not killing the game off and Nantes were incisive on the counter. It will probably be much the same story in France for the second leg, with Szczęsny being let down a little bit by some of the defenders in front of him.
Finally, a special mention to Shakhtar Donetsk who continue to play their European games at Łazienkowska, as they triumphed over Rennes 2-1 in the first leg of their Europa League tie.
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