FC Basel - Lech Poznan 1:0

Once again Lech Poznan lost with FC Basel, but this time 0:1. The overall score means that Lech is out of the Champions League qualifications. Despite putting up a good fight, the team from Poznan will compete in Europa League qualifications from now on.

Lech had little chance of advancing to the next round ahead of the second leg against Basel. Having lost 1:3 in the first game, the team from Poznan travelled to Switzerland with the hope and the will to prove that they aren't worse than their high-ranked rivals.

Maciej Skorza made several changes in the squad before sending his players to face Basel. Kasper Hamalainen was moved to the position of no.9, making space for Darko Jevtic to be placed behind him. The homegrown player of FC Basel got a chance to return to St. Jakob Park and prove his worthiness in front of the Swiss club. In addition, Kadar was no longer a part of the defense line. After a series of errors and easily conceded goals, the coaching staff gave chance to the experienced Dudka.

Lech proved in the opening minutes that they wanted to fulfill their pre-match declarations. In the 2nd minute Linetty sent a long pass to Pawlowski, the latter raced into the penalty area, but his cross to Formella was stopped by Basel's goalkeeper. 4 minutes later Pawlowski caused problems to Basels defense again, by easily leaving Lang behind and sending the ball to Formella. This time the latter did receive the ball, but he did not shot at the goal - Darko Jevtic did it instead, but his shot was slightly not on target.

The first 15 minutes of the match were undoubtedly dominated by Lech. Rarely did the hosts leave their own side of the pitch. Lech was clearly better than their opponents, however they lacked a good final touch to their offensive actions and a bit of luck. The local players had their first dangerous goal attempt in the 18th minute when Hamalainen lost the ball to Safari and the latter sent the ball right on Calli's head. Fortunately for Lech, Buric had no trouble intervening successfully. Similarly to the first leg, Fischer's players caused real trouble to Lech following corner and free kicks. After one of the corner kicks, Lech's penalty area turned into chaos, but at last the defenders from Poznan managed to clear the ball out.

After the initial pressure from Lech Poznan, the game became more balanced and the pace slowed down. Nonetheless, the guests seemed to dominate the play, even though they did not have many goal-scoring opportunities. However, the hosts had a good goal attempt shortly before the break. Delgado was the one to finish the action, but he miskicked. The action summed up the way the Swiss team played in the first half - passively, inaccurately, focusing solely on defense. Nonetheless, Lech did not manage to take advantage over its rival's poor game.

The pace in the second half remained slow. Both teams had a few chances to score, but the biggest threat for Basel came in the 58th minute. When Kaminski sent a great long pass to Douglas, the Scott played a flat ball into the penalty area, and although the goalkeeper and the defenders intervened, Darko Jevtic recovered the ball and sent a massive shot flying in the direction of the goal, but instead of falling into the back of the net, the ball hit one of the defenders' head.

Lech tried everything they could to score the first goal. The team from Poznan tried shooting from outside the penalty area, tried penetrating Basel's defense line with team actions and even attempted to send long balls to Hamalainen. When the Finnish midfielder finally found himself in the right place at the right time, he had an empty goal and yet he sent the ball flying above the crossbar. Hamalainen was offside, according to the referees, but it does not change the fact that Lech wasted another good goal-scoring opportunity.

Both coaches started making substitutions. The first new players to appear on the pitch were Lovrencsics and Embolo and both brought fresh energy to their teams. Lech and Basel had multiple chances to take the lead, but neither Kuzmanovic, nor Lovrencsics, nor Tralka managed to place the ball in the back of the net. Lech remained fighting till the very last whistle, but because of lack of precision, all their goal-scoring opportunities went to waste. Unfortunately, Lech did not even manage to tie the match against the Swiss Champions because in the injury time Bjarnason was left unmarked and the player defeated Buric without difficulty. Nonetheless, it would be unjust to say that FC Basel was the better side on the Wednesday evening. However, they are the ones who advance to the next round of Champions League qualifications, while Poland will have to wait a year longer to see its representative fight among the football elites. Lech will now compete in the Europa League play-offs where they will face one of the teams that will be drawn-out on Friday.

FC Basel - Lech Poznań 1:0

Goals: Bjarnason (90+1')

Yellow cards: Suchy, Lang, Calla - Linetty, Kamiński, Douglas

Basel: Vaclik  Safari (89. Traore), Suchy, Hoegh, Lang - Elneny, Kuzmanović - Calla, Delgado (76. Zuffi), Bjarnason - Janko (70. Embolo)

Lech: Burić - Ceesay, Dudka, Kamiński, Douglas - Linetty, Trałka - Formella (68. Lovrencsics), Jevtić (73. Thomalla), Pawłowski - Hamalainen (83. Robak)