Image via @PrzemekSzyszka on Twitter
Back in August when the draw was made for the group stages of the Europa Conference League, many of us thought that Lech Poznań would challenge to get out of the group, but were ultimately resigned to the conclusion that they would probably fall at the first hurdle.
This wasn’t necessarily defeatism, but analysing how Polish sides have fared in Europe in recent times. Legia Warszawa weren’t horrendous in the Europa League group stage last season, winning two games, but they still ended up bottom of their group. Raków Częstochowa were close to making the Conference League also this season, but fell to a 120” winner away at Slavia Prague.
Lech themselves had a rough summer in which they eventually qualified for the Conference League. Embarrassed away at Qarabag, their Champions League qualifying campaign faltered immediately, and they were fairly unimpressive scraping their way into the Conference League.
However, since the Conference League proper started, they have grown in confidence and momentum. They ran Villarreal close 4-3 away, triumphed at Bułgarska over Austria Vienna 4-1, suffered a bit in the two games against Hapoel Be’er Sheva and the return leg against the Austrians, before smashing Villarreal 3-0 in Poznań in their final group game.
This meant that Lech would be the first Polish side to be playing knockout European football in over five years when they played Bodo/Glimt in the last round, and after a respectable 0-0 in Norway the Kolejorz claimed a narrow 1-0 win in the home leg.
Now they play Swedish side Djurgardens tonight in the first leg of the next knockout round. Whilst Djurgardens are still a strong team to be respected, the belief this Lech side have festered is a real positive for Polish football. For years Poland has slid down the pecking order in the UEFA coefficients, and with this run in the Conference League, Lech are helping to arrest that slide.
Whether or not Lech go through against Djurgardens over these two legs, the fact is that Lech’s run will surely give belief to the other top Ekstraklasa clubs like Legia and Raków that long European adventures of their own are very possible in the seasons ahead. We could have a point in the very near future where three Polish clubs are competing in the knockout stages of European competition, and that would be a great starting point for Polish football to start gaining attention from all across Europe.
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