I had a feeling that there will happen something spectacular to write about, and I was right. Just two days ago Polish champion, Lech Poznan, have won an Europa League match against almighty and all-rich Manchester City. Moreover, after that result Lech is a leader in the table of group A in front of “the Citizens”, “Juve” and Red Bull Salzburg.
It’s even biggest surprise if you consider that the yearly budget of Polish club is more that 100 times smaller than the budget of Manchester City. I could only add that Lech is now third from bottom in the Polish league. It’s to scary to think what would happen if it will be Jagiellonia Białystok or Korona Kielce playing against the British club.
Where is the foundation of the Lech’s victory? Normally you would say that it should be a coach, but a famous Bask, Jose Maria Bakero, is working with Lech only from Tuesday, and his impact in that result was very minimal. So maybe the previous one? Jacek Zielinski, ex-coach of Lech, had made a very good job, but if he is so good, why had been fired out? It’s really hard to explain why Lech have reached 7 points out of 12 in Europa League and 10 out of 30 in Polish Ekstrakalsa. Lech have scored 4 goals in final minutes in the group phase in EL but in Polish league usually they were unable to score in second halves. Interesting, isn’t it?
What’s clear and obvious is that Lech were better prepared to this very clash. In the second half they were ruling in the centre of the midfield and the Citizens were able only to attack by wings and that’s much less than you can expect from the team with Silva or Vieira on the pitch.
Another thing is that Roberto Mancini to early started to defend a draw. The entering of two “K” defenders: Kolarov and Kompany, had made no impact to the attacking style and was a clear signal to the rest that 1-1 is what satisfies the coach.
Third thing that I would like to point out is that I don’t remember when was the last time when Polish players have better stamina than players from English club. Usually the final minutes it was living on the edge (or rather dying on the edge) by our sides trying only to defend in own penalty areas. As it was in Torino the same it was this time, Lech were fighting hard till the very late, but successive, to score goals. In Italy they were trying to equalize and in Poznan they were trying to win. In both situations those aims were against all odds as the rivals on paper were much superior.
One of my colleagues after the draw of Europa League groups said something about Monte Cassino and a brave battle against football titans to show that Poles can loose with honour. In four weeks we will expect in Poland, when Juventus will come, not a Monte Cassino but a real Battle of Grunwald as a draw will guarantee for Lech a qualification for the next stage (as I don’t expect that Salzburg would win on the City of Manchester Stadium).
On 17th of November Poland will play against Ivory Coast on the same stadium in Poznan. Would the victory of Lech be a sign for our national team to win the first match from winter? I don’t think so, but more about this later this month.
90 minutes to die 