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This afternoon at Bulgarska sees what is probably the biggest game of the Ekstraklasa season so far between Lech and Legia. Both teams will be hoping for a win for different reasons; Lech will be hoping to continue their climb up the table and potentially into the European positions, and Legia will be looking to extend their lead over Raków Częstochowa at the top of the table.
Lech have recovered from their early season problems, where they were knocked out of Champions League qualifying in the first round and suffered a series of poor results in the league. Since then, they have climbed back up the Ekstraklasa table, securing 13 points from the last 15 available, as well as putting in impressive Europa Conference League performances such as their narrow 4-3 loss away to Villarreal and 4-1 home victory over Austria Vienna.
Legia haven’t been playing the best football in the Ekstraklasa this season, but they have been getting the results, save for when they were demolished 4-0 away from home by Raków. A good example of the mental fortitude they have generally displayed would be their last game against newly promoted Miedź Legnica. After falling 2-0 down early on, a goal by Paweł Wsołek and two volleys from Filip Mladenovic saw them 3-2 victors.
Lech have some very exciting players at their disposal, and most pundits are expecting this to be a game of attack against defence. Lech have captain Mikael Ishak, who is currently joint top scorer in the Conference League, recent Poland debutant Michał Skóraś and the much-improved Kristoffer Velde as well as marauding right-back Joel Pereira, who is capable of putting in great crosses.
Legia’s strength has generally been their defence, in particular young goalkeeper Kacper Tobiasz, but also experienced defender Artur Jędrzejczyk, the aforementioned Mladenovic and the versatile Rafał Augustyniak.
It’ll be a game of great interest and one of the real spectacles of the Ekstraklasa season, with a reported 35,000 tickets for the match having been sold by Thursday, a figure which may increase by another 3,000 by this afternoon.
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