A loss against Slovan

Lech resumed training sessions on Monday and their first friendly match of the pre-season was scheduled 5 days later. For Slovan Liberec, it was the third practice game ahead of the 2023/2024 season. The Czech side has already faced Pribram (2:0) and Mlada Boleslav (0:2).

Lech’s coaching side decided to prepare two different line-ups for each half of the Saturday clash. The match was a rather slow-paced one. Lech tried creating goal-scoring opportunities mainly using the flanks where Filip Wilak and Adriel Ba Loua were very active. The player from Ivory Coast fired two dangerous shots at Slovan’s goal but both were off target. Meanwhile, the Czech side was focused on counterattacks. One of Slovan’s quick offensive attempts ended with Kulenovic firing an imprecise goal from outside the box. However, a few minutes later, Slovan scored for the first time. The squad from Liberec took advantage of Lech’s offensive positioning and Chalus converted a nice team attempt into a goal. The hosts were determined to equalize before halftime but they lacked good opportunities to change the score.

In the second half, Lech’s line-up was composed predominantly of players who competed for the B-team and junior teams last season. The fresh energy was visible and it didn’t take long for the hosts to equalize – in the 54^th minute, Norbert Pacławski received the ball from Maksym Czekała, and then the young striker set up Aleksander Nadolski with a perfect pass. The latter converted the chance into a goal with a flat, precise shot. The Polish squad held onto the tie for another 16 minutes before Slovan found the back of the net once again; Horsky added his name to the goal scorers’ sheet. Then, 12 minutes later, Rabusić converted a corner kick into the third goal and set the final score to 3:1 for Slovan.

Lech Poznań – Slovan Liberec 1:3 (0:1)

Goals: Nadolski (54.) – Chalus (34.), Horsky (72.), Rabusić (84.)

Lech Poznań (1st half): Filip Bednarek – Joel Pereira, Alan Czerwiński, Antonio Milić, Ksawery Kukułka – Adriel Ba Loua, Radosław Murawski, Maksymilian Dziuba, Filip Wilak – Joao Amaral – Artur Sobiech

Lech Poznań (2nd half): Bartosz Mrozek – Filip Borowski, Bartosz Tomaszewski, Michał Gurgul, Mikołaj Tudruj – Filip Wolski, Sammy Dudek, Maksym Czekała, Maksym Pietrzak – Aleksander Nadolski - Norbert Pacławski