Lech Poznań - Dinamo Zagreb 1:3

8-time Polish Champions faced the 25-time Croatian Champions. On Sunday afternoon, the two sides faced each other on one of the training pitches at the sports complex in Mardan. For Lech, it was their first winter training game, whereas Dinamo Zagreb is already finishing their preparations for the spring round during which they will compete, inter alia, in the Champions League. Lech’s coaching staff decided to create two different starting line-ups for each half of the game. In the second 45 minutes, the club’s latest signing – Gisli Thordarson – made his unofficial debut; so did the 17-year-old Academy player Tymoteusz Gmur. The promising youngster Sammy Dudek also appeared on the pitch but for 15 minutes only.

The first half of the friendly was an exhilarating spectacle. Both sides created plenty of scoring chance and the Croatians were the first ones to find the back of the net. The team from Zagreb recovered the play when Lech was executing a corner kick and Martin Baturina beat Filip Bednarek with a shot from outside the box.

However, Dinamo’s joy didn’t last long. Not long later, Lech equalised thanks to Ali Gholizadeh who received a great long ball from Afonso Sousa and beat Dinamo’s keeper with a lob. Iranian is therefore the author of Lech’s first goal of 2025.

Before the referee announced halftime, Dinamo took the lead once again. Although it seemed that Afonso Sousa was fouled, the referee didn’t use the whistle and the Croatian side took advantage of that – their counterattack turned out to be lethal. Shortly before halftime, Dinamo scored again – this time Luka Sjotković found the back of the net.

The second half could have begun positively for Lech - in the 47^th minute, Patrik Wålemark had a perfect chance to change the score, but Dinamo’s defensive line triumphed. The rest of the match was balanced and there were fewer goal-scoring chances for both sides than in the first 45 minutes. Towards the end of the game, Lech regained control and even got a good opportunity to hit the back of the net but Patrik Wålemark’s shot flew above the crossbar.

It was Lech’s first friendly game of the winter break. Now, Niels Frederiksen and his team will have two intense days of training before they play two more matches on Thursday—at 9:00 AM Polish time, they will face Botev Plovdiv, and then at 3:00 PM, they will play against FK Čukarički. Both matches will be broadcast on Lech’s YouTube profile.

Lech Poznań - Dinamo Zagreb 1:3 (1:3)

Goals: Gholizadeh (22.) - Baturina (20.), Hoxha (35.), Stojković (41.)

Lech Poznań (1st half): Filip Bednarek - Ian Hoffmann, Wojciech Mońka, Antonio Milić, Maksymilian Pingot - Filip Jagiełło, Antoni Kozubal, Afonso Sousa - Ali Gholizadeh, Mikael Ishak, Daniel Håkans

Lech Poznań (2nd half): Bartosz Mrozek - Joel Pereira, Alex Douglas, Bartosz Salamon, Elias Andersson (72. Michał Gurgul) - Radosław Murawski, Gisli Thordarson, Tymoteusz Gmur (77. Sammy Dudek) - Dino Hotić, Filip Szymczak, Patrik Wålemark