We know it from other sports: an unknown tennis player from the ranks faces the favorite from the top, wins the first game, I manage to win the whole set, but the longer the match goes on, the favorite increases its advantage and wins. Or a challenger enters the ring with a great champion, throws one punch and another, draws from enthusiasm, carries energy, holds on somehow in the first rounds, but with each subsequent one, the champion shows him his place in the ranks, finally knocks him out.
This was the case with Lech Poznań in the meeting with Fiorentina: he rose impressively after the first blow, he hit just as hard and accurately, he had a good result, he went to the break with hope, but the second half completely stripped him of it. Fiorentina – better technically, physically and tactically, they dominated most of the match, but scored goals after counterattacks. As the defenders of Lech made mistakes, the Italians used almost everyone. Rebocho missed, Bednarek lost the map, Kwekweskiri got outplayed, Satka couldn’t keep up – goal, goal, goal and Fiorentina won 4:1 brutally ending Lech’s beautiful European dream.
Lech Poznań lost to a much better rival. But he could have done much better himself
Of course, the Polish champions knew who they were up against: they knew Fiorentina’s two-month unbeaten streak of matches, they saw the quarter-finalists of the Champions League – Inter and Milan – beaten by it, they remembered that Vincenzo Italiano’s team scored seven goals on aggregate against Braga, five against Sivassporo, and still in the group – eight from Heart of Midlothian. Lech’s players knew that it takes a coincidence to create a surprise: it’s best for each of them to get up on that day with their right foot, the coach had a match plan, and the goalkeeper saved the team when the rivals would still find gaps in this plan. Add to that the loud cheering of the fans, slightly reduced effectiveness of the opponents – and you can dream of success.
But on Thursday in Poznań, only the fans did their thing – they started with a spectacular carton and cheered loudly until the end. However, the team leaders played much worse than in previous matches in Europe – Michał Skóraś was invisible, Mikael Ishak lay down in the penalty area in a key situation instead of shooting, and later made a few wrong decisions, Pedro Rebocho panicked at the beginning of the match, later involved in in the loss of two more goals, and Filip Bednarek did not save anything extra, he missed the first four shots on target, although he should have done more with the first and fourth. In turn, John van den Brom’s tactical plan was probably already undermined in the 4th minute, when Fiorentina took the lead.
In fact, it was even earlier – in the morning, when UEFA informed Lech that Bartosz Salamon, whose body ten days earlier had been diagnosed with chlorthalidone, a diuretic banned in football, which could hide the use of, for example, anabolic steroids or testosterone, is suspended for three months to clarify the matter. Previously, there was no such ban, Salamon played at the weekend in a league match against Warta Poznań, he was also prepared to play against Fiorentina. When the club received the email, the presidents’ eyes widened: why now, on the day of the match, and not a week earlier or at least two days ago? Coaches asked themselves the same questions, but immediately threw themselves into a tactic rework – set-piece marking, ball play patterns and positioning, while figuring out what to tell the other players to limit the negative effects of losing a team leader and informal captain .
However, there are similarities between the situation with Salamon and the match against Fiorentina. In both cases, Lech was actually helpless at the end, but he hadn’t done everything before to not have anything to blame himself for. Against both UEFA and Fiorentina, he lacked a bit of calculating, tactical cunning at the highest level. Salamon’s lack of immediate suspension was a surprise from the start. Perhaps it should have been anticipated that UEFA would not want to see a player suspected of using doping in its competitions? Maybe we should have prepared an alternative plan on the side and got used to – first ourselves, and then also the players – that such a suspension could happen at any time? Maybe I should have been distrustful? Later, in the match, Lech also did not show everything he can do, and only playing at his highest level could he dream of a favorable result that would sustain the hope of promotion and attract fans to the rematch in Florence – for another beautiful European adventure.
So that science does not go into the woods again
This is how John van den Brom saw the match, as he appeared at the press conference with sadness, but also with an obvious sense of insufficiency. “If you want to have a chance with Fiorentina you have to be at your best and it wasn’t our day. I know we can be better than today. But that’s the biggest problem: on the most important day, we didn’t show what the fans expected of us. Everyone was waiting for this match, the atmosphere was fantastic, the rival was good, but the best of us were missing. And we can regret that. We also had high expectations and ended up losing 4-1, which, to be honest, makes it very difficult for us to qualify. In matches with such rivals, you have to show your best side. We didn’t show enough today,” he said after the game. However, he ended the conference on an optimistic note: “You can’t be proud of a 4-1 defeat. But I’m proud of the whole season for this team,” he added.
Full agreement. For the first time in 32 years, a Polish team reached the quarter-finals of a European cup, scored points for Poland in the UEFA ranking, improved its own coefficient, so it will be easier for them to be seeded next season. This is a potential that Lech Poznań should not waste, so it must do everything in the coming weeks to stay at the top of the league. You have to act immediately – on Sunday the match against Legia in Warsaw.
Lech is fighting to add walls to the foundation poured this season. European cups attract fans, generate a different level of interest in the club, also allow you to better promote young players and earn a lot of money. Even by selling Michał Skóraś, Lech can convince clubs interested in him that he does not need anything, that he is not in a hurry to sell, because he has already earned his money in Europe. This season is also learning – working with a new coach, combining demanding matches in Europe with league matches, exploring the art of rotation, dosing loads, changing the players themselves, that you have to go to the pitch every three days. Lech learned to push the qualifying matches ugly, to win matches against rivals with similar potential, to surprise the favorites once in a while. So far, however, the learning of Polish clubs has gone too often into the woods, they lacked continuity, they entered European cups again after a few years – usually with a new coach and significantly changed staff. With the exception of Legia Warszawa in 2013-2017, they still started anew. Let Lech not have to and in a few years still not mention this beautiful adventure from this season.
