Lech better than Banik

In the second pre-season friendly, Lech Poznań faced Banik Ostrava at the training centre in Opalenica. The recent campaign has been a very successful one for the team led by Pavel Hapal – so much so that they are going to compete in the Europa Conference League qualifications.

In the first half, the Polish side was in control of the match. Lech’s players kept surprising their opponent with high pressing and recovering the ball effortlessly. In comparison to their first pre-season friendly, Niels Frederiksen’s side created many more goal-scoring opportunities than against Piast Gliwice. Filip Szymczak was the first one to test Banik’s goalkeeper, however, Jakub Marković intervened well. Next, Kristoffer Velde tried surprising the keeper with two shots, one of which was slightly off target, whereas the other was blocked. It was Filip Marchwiński who came the closest to scoring in the first half. Dino Hotic spotted the striker’s great position, but in a one-on-one clash with Marković, Marchwiński put too much strength into the lob and the ball flew above the crossbar. Lech’s homegrown player had another goal-scoring opportunity not long later, however, this time Banik’s goalkeeper stopped Marchwiński’s shot from hitting the back of the net.

The second half looked similar to the first 45 minutes, except that Lech’s players were more efficient in their offensive attempts. Shortly after the play was resumed, Alan Czerwiński won a clash by the sideline and sent a backward pass to Adriel Ba Loua, who then set up Jakub Antczak with a perfect ball. The Academy player beat Marković with a precise, flat shot. Lech didn’t stop there and not long later they had another chance to change the score, however, neither Ba Loua nor Ishak beat Banik’s keeper in a one-on-one clash. The Swedish striker scored a goal of his own a bit later, in the 71^st minute, as a result of the goalkeeper’s mistake. Ishak had one more opportunity to get a brace when he received a perfectly timed pass from Ali Gholizadeh but this time Marković intervened without an error. The match ended with a comfortable, 2:0 win for the Polish side.

Lech Poznań – Banik Ostrava 2:0 (0:0)

Goals: Antczak (50.), Ishak (71.)

Lech Poznań (1st half): Bartosz Mrozek - Joel Pereira, Michał Gurgul, Antonio Milić, Elias Andersson, Dino Hotić, Jesper Karlström, Afonso Sousa, Kristoffer Velde, Filip Marchwiński, Filip Szymczak

Lech Poznań (2nd half): Filip Bednarek – Alan Czerwiński, Wojciech Mońka, Maksymilian Pingot, Filip Borowski, Adriel Ba Loua, Radosław Murawski, Antoni Kozubal, Jakub Antczak, Ali Gholizadeh, Mikael Ishak