League Mondays without a loss

Among the 17 Monday games, there were two Polish Cup clashes – the recent match against Znicz Pruszków which Lech won 3:2, and the only loss over the past 20 years, i.e. the Polish Cup final in 2016. Lech Poznań faced Legia Warsaw on the National Stadium on May 2^nd. The game ended with a 1:0 win for the team from the capital.

However, the league statistics are more impressive and there is no doubt that Lech Poznań players don’t dread Mondays. Out of the 15 league clashes scheduled for the first day of the week, in 12 of them Lech collected 3 points and only 3 of them ended with a draw. Some of these games have an interesting story behind them.

What’s surprising is that only 2 of those 17 matches took place at Bułgarska street. Back on May 3^rd 2004, Odra Wodzisław Śląski visited Poznań. The fans and journalists had a hard time differentiating the two teams since Odra took only one match kit with them and the dark blue jerseys were fairly similar to those that Lech Poznań squad was wearing. The only way out was to borrow Lech’s orange training vest which, in turn, covered the players’ numbers. The hosts won the game 2:0.

Lech even managed to collect three hattricks on Monday. In autumn 2011, Artjoms Rudnevs stole the show with three goals against GKS Bełchatów (3:0) and Zagłębie Lubin (3:2). Meanwhile, in the most recent league clash that was played on Monday, Christian Gytkjaer scored 3 times for the team from Poznań – the match against Wisła Cracow ended with a 3:1 win for Lech. Interestingly, it was Wisła that scored first and the club from Poznań was forced to chase the score.

There was another, even more memorable match played in Cracow – one against Cracovia which Lech won 6:1, following 6 goals from 6 different players. Kasper Hamalainen, Gergo Lovrencsics, Marcin Kamiński, Rafał Murawski, Łukasz Teodorczyk and Bartosz Ślusarski all found the back of the net. Although Cracovia received a proper beating, Lech had a lot of luck in that game as the hosts hit the post 4 times!

On April 9th 2012, Lech Poznań was losing 0:2 in Kielce but eventually managed to catch up to Korona and the game ended with a draw thanks to a late winner from Luis Henriquez. “That was a shot! Honestly, I was shooting!” claimed the Panamian after his attempt which did give Lech an important goal but many said was a cross, not a shot. “I wanted to shot directly at the goal because I noticed that the goalkeeper left the goal line. When analysing Korona’s games, I saw that their goalkeeper often takes a few steps forward, hence I decided to use the opportunity,” explained Lech’s player. 2 years later in Łódź, Lech was also losing 0:2 to Widzew and again managed to win a draw, proving right Czesław Michniewicz’s famous theory that “2:0 is a dangerous score”.

ALL LECH’S MATCHES PLAYED ON MONDAY IN 21^ST CENTURY

STATISTICS

17 matches

13 wins

3 draws

1 loss

Goals: 38-14