Uefa Cup Second Legs: Gomel-Legia Warsaw 1:4, Lech Poznan-Khazar Lenkoran 4:1.

Those results should have been achieved by Polish clubs two weeks ago. Unfortunately, we had to wait for second legs for our teams to finally prove that we’re better than what the football world of Belarus and Azerbaijan has to offer. Confident wins by both Polish clubs and some good displays from Polish national team players (Murawski, Roger).

Gomel-Legia Warsaw 1:4 (Bressan 20′ – Iwanski 26p’, 62′, Szalachowski 52′, 66′)
Legia Warsaw: Jan Mucha – Jakub Rzezniczak, Wojciech Szala, Dickson Choto, Tomasz Kielbowicz – Miroslav Radovic, Roger Guerreiro, Maciej Iwanski, Piotr Giza (70′ Ariel Borysiuk), Maciej Rybus (79′ Mikel Arruabarrena) – Piotr Rocki (46′ Sebastian Szalachowski)

No need to write about this game extensively. The Belarussian team was on the level of Polish 3rd div so Legia won the game rather easily. At the same time, they didn’t show an impressive form or any kind of spectacular display. They just did what was expected, but to further advance in the UEFA Cup they need to play much better. Here’s how potential nt players did:

Jakub Rzezniczak: didn’t have much to do in defense, covered his players easily. I like his tactical awareness, he knows when to join his team’s attack. Lacks offensive quality when near opponent’s goal. Nice assist though.
Roger Guerreiro: still looks physically unprepared, lacks speed and fast decision making. Nevertheless, he did very good in the centre of the field, the only Legia player that was able to play a nice, long ball towards wingers. Confident on the ball, good dribbling ability.
Maciej Iwanski: looked better than two weeks ago. I think he should stick to offensive midfielder spot. Tried a lot of diagonal passes, sometimes spends too much time on the ball. Proved that he knows how to score from a dead ball situation.
Maciej Rybus: an OK game, but not spectacular. A very talented player, no doubt, but it’s too early for him to play a leading role on the field.

Lech Poznan-Khazar Lenkoran 4:1 (Stilic 35′, Murawski 52′, Injac 64′, Reiss 83′ – Ramazanow 45′)
Lech Poznan: Krzysztof Kotorowski – Grzegorz Wojtkowiak, Manuel Arboleda, Bartosz Bosacki, Luis Henriquez – Slawomir Peszko, Semir Stilic (68′ Robert Lewandowski), Rafal Murawski, Tomasz Bandrowski, Dimitrije Injac (79′ Anderson Cueto) – Hernan Rengifo (74′ Piotr Reiss)

Lech won confidently, although there were parts of the game dominated by Khazar. Lech is still not good enough to dominate the game throughout 90 minutes. Other than that, the team can play nice, offensive football; one can see that they are trying to develop their own, distinctive style. Similarly to Legia, they need to play much better in the next round. Potential nt players:

Tomasz Bandrowski: played with an injury and wasn’t very confident. Good positioning for a defensive midfielder, but looks prone to losing the ball too often. A lot better in the second half.
Rafal Murawski: a great game from Muras. Passing, dribbling and shooting: all on a high level. Improved very much as a player after joining the nt. Great goal.
Slawomir Peszko: enormous speed, but lacks the quality to finish. He resebles Marcin Zajac, a former nt player. Peszko needs to work on his shooting and final pass. An interesting player.
Robert Lewandowski: not enough time for him to shine. Let’s wait for the league season.

Latest news: Wisla Krakow may face FC Barcelona if they manage to defeat Beitar Jerusalem. What an opportunity! Now they just can’t blow it. Lech Poznan will play Grasshoppers Zurich and Legia Warsaw will face FC Moscow. Both Grasshoppers and FC Moscow are quite good teams, but also ones that Polish clubs can compete with. Interesting matches await.