Lech defeated by Piast in a friendly

Originally Lech was supposed to face Lechia Gdańsk in their first friendly game of the pre-season. However, on Thursday, the PKO BP Ekstraklasa newcomers informed Lech that as a result of squad problems, they would not be able to play against Niels Frederiksen’s team. Hence, Piast Gliwice filled the spot. The friendly was played in Opalenica where the team from Silesia is currently training.

The first half was rather slow and uneventful. Most of the play took place in the midfield and both sides struggled to dominate their opponent, therefore, there were few goal-scoring opportunities. In the 16^th minute, Piast came the closest to scoring when Michael Ameyaw fired a strong shot from the outskirts of the penalty area. However, the ball stopped on the post. Meanwhile, Lech was focused on creating chances using the wings, but they were ineffective. Towards the end of the first half, Lech’s pressing paid off and they recovered the ball close to Piast’s box. Dino Hotic tried surprising the opponent’s keeper, but the latter stopped the ball without issues. Frantisek Plach had to intervene once again a few minutes later when Kristoffer Velde attempted to convert a free kick into a goal.

Piast began the second half at a high intensity and soon after the match was resumed, they could have scored another goal. Lech’s players made an error which Gabriel Kirejczyk took advantage of, but Bartosz Mrozek triumphed in the one-on-one clash. Lech responded with an offensive attempt of their own – Jakub Antczak sent a wide pass to Adriel Ba Loua and the latter effortlessly found Filip Szymczak. The striker managed to dribble past the keeper, but one of Piast’s players booted the ball off the line. 15 minutes before the final time, the team from Gliwice took the lead. Radosław Murawski’s mistake resulted in a penalty kick for Piast and Jorge Felix converted the set piece into the only goal of the match. Lech has three more pre-season friendly matches scheduled – in the next training game (Wednesday, 03.07), they will face Banik Ostrava.

Lech Poznań – Piast Gliwice 0:1 (0:0)

Goals: Felix (76.)

Lech Poznań (1st half): Filip Bednarek, Joel Pereira, Wojciech Mońka, Antonio Milić, Michał Gurgul, Dino Hotić, Jesper Karlström, Antoni Kozubal, Kristoffer Velde, Filip Marchwiński, Mikael Ishak

Lech Poznań (2nd half): Bartosz Mrozek, Alan Czerwiński, Bartosz Tomaszewski. Maksymilian Pingot. Elias Andersson, Adriel Ba Loua, Radosław Murawski, Afonso Sousa, Jakub Antczak (80. Tymoteusz Gmur), Ali Gholizadeh, Filip Szymczak