Image via @AVFCOfficial on Twitter
It’s been a very big weekend for Polish football, from goalscoring and good news to transfer rumours and other tidbits of information, so I thought I’d give a quick run-down of what I considered to be the most meaningful of the weekend’s stories.
A weekend for the domestic cups around most of Europe, the FA Cup 3rd round got underway in England, the Copa Del Rey in Spain and France’s Coupe de France all picked up steam as the top teams entered the competition at the halfway stage of the season.
In England, a tough game for Aston Villa saw Matty Cash grab a last minute winner with a deflected strike from range as the Villans edged past Middlesbrough 1-0. Elsewhere, Jakub Moder made his first start in a senior football match for 19 months as Brighton beat Stoke 4-2, and Michał Helik was on the losing side as Huddersfield were quite understandably thrashed by Manchester City 5-0.
Mixed feelings for me personally as Jakub Kiwior scored an unlucky own goal in Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool yesterday. I thought that Kiwior had a perfectly solid game, but despite this run in the team he’s getting, all I see is criticism. Call me biased, but I don’t think Kiwior is any worse than the rest of Arsenal’s defenders, save for Willian Saliba who at times seems to be their saving grace.
In Spain, Robert Lewandowski came off the bench to ensure Barcelona got a narrow 3-2 win over lower division side Barbastro in the Copa Del Rey. Lewy scored a late penalty to make the score 3-1, which just a few minutes later proved to be crucial as the home side scored a penalty of their own to make it a nervy last few moments of stoppage time.
This leads us quite nicely onto a small matter of controversy, which was Lewandowski not making the top ten shortlist for Polish Athlete of the Year. Personally I think he deserves to be in that top ten, even if recent months have led us to believe the man is falling off a cliff in regards to his performance and career. We should remember that despite turning 35 a few months ago, and very much looking it at times on the pitch, he still won La Liga with a mildly unfancied Barcelona side and was top scorer in the league ahead of someone who won the Ballon d’Or.
In the Coupe de France, one of the slightly more unusual stories of the weekend. Radosław Majecki, who if we’re honest most of us had forgotten about in favour of other young Polish goalkeepers, came up big in a penalty shootout as Monaco beat Lens. Majecki saved two penalties in the shootout, which has at the very least you assume earned him the right to continue as Monaco’s cup goalkeeper.
When it comes to transfer rumours, now that of course we are in January, I think the most interesting is the supposed return of Szymon Żurkowski to Empoli. Allegedly a permanent transfer from Spezia, it would see Żurkowski going back to the side which saw his greatest performances, as well as an opportunity to link up with fellow Poland teammates in Bartosz Bereszyński and Sebastian Walukiewicz. I for one would be very excited to see Żurkowski back in Serie A, and especially given it would be for a team for which he has previously contributed well.
Finally, another January transfer window has seen another loan for Kamil Piątkowski, this time to Granada in Spain. Piątkowski was appearing intermittently for Salzburg in the first half of the season, even scoring a goal, but was largely not receiving adequate playing time. He proved at his loan spell with Gent last season that he is capable of leading a defence, and even though Granada sit second-bottom in La Liga, I expect Piątkowski to make a noticeable difference to their defence.
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