F91 Dudelange – Lech Poznań 1:1

The two-goal advantage was invaluable as Lech’s players flew to Luxembourg with relatively calm minds, knowing that they were in a better position. However, it didn’t take Dudelange long to prove to Lech that they were capable of depriving the Polish team of the advantage – just minutes into the match, one of the players from Luxembourg fell down in the penalty area following a direct clash with Lubomir Satka. The hosts demanded a penalty kick, but the referee did not point to the white spot.

The team from Poznań performed far from well in the first half – John van den Brom’s squad was visibly nervous, failed to remain in possession of the ball for longer periods, and created room for Dudelange to attack. One of the hosts’ offensive attempts ended with Mehdi Kirch firing a shot at Lech’s goal – the ball bounced off one of the players and unexpectedly hit the back of the net.

After halftime, Lech’s performance gradually improved. Firstly, they managed to keep Dudelange away from their penalty area. They also started creating goal-scoring opportunities and one of them resulted in an equalizer. In the 60^th minute, Gio Tsitaishvili, who just came on the pitch, set up Joel Pereira with a perfect pass and the latter placed the ball in the back of the net with a strong shot. It was the Portuguese’s first official goal scored in senior football.

The equalizer seemed to have demotivated the hosts – they needed two more goals to push the match into extra time but Lech was focused on not letting them near the goal which was being guarded by Bednarek. John van den Brom’s squad delivered the draw and, with an aggregate score of 3:1, they got themselves a spot in the group phase of the Europa Conference League.

In the group stage, the team from Poznań will face Villarreal, Hapoel Beer Sheva, and Austria Vienna.

Dudelange - Lech Poznań 1:1 (1:0)

Goals: Kirch (36.) – Pereira (60.)

Dudelange: Fox - Ouassiero, Skenderović, Decker, Kirch - Morren, Vova (68. Vova) - Sinani - Hadji, Joao Magno (68. Ninte Junior), Agović (68. Gashi).

Lech: Bednarek - Pereira, Satka, Pingot, Rebocho - Velde (59. Tsitaishvili), Murawski (68. Karlstrom), Kvekveskiri, Skóraś - Amaral (68. Marchwiński) - Ishak (57. Szymczak).