Lech’s adventure in the European competition in the 2022/23 season has had its ups and downs, and the first leg of the quarterfinals against ACF Fiorentina was unfortunately one of the latter. John van den Brom’s squad lost 1:4 at home and their chance to advance to the semifinals is slim.
A packed stadium and the brilliant support of the 40-thousand crowd at Bługarska Street wasn’t enough for Lech’s team to match up with Fiorentina. The Italian side has been unbeaten – in all competition – since February 12th and on Thursday, they further extended their streak without a loss.
It took Fiorentina 3 minutes to place the ball in the back of Lech’s goal for the first time that evening. Nicolas Gonzalez fired a strong shot from outside the box and the ball bounced off the post and then off Filip Bednarek’s back. The goalkeeper desperately tried to stop his team from conceding a goal, but Arthur Cabral was faster, and he managed to tap the ball into the net.
However, the conceded goal didn’t bring Lech down. In the 19th minute and 22nd second – just as the 40-thousand crowd was doing “the Poznań” celebration with their backs towards the pitch – Kristoffer Velde finished off a team attempt with a strong shot that Fiorentina’s goalkeeper failed to stop.
Unfortunately for the hosts, before the referee announced halftime, Fiorentina managed to take the lead once again. This time Cristiano Biraghi crossed the ball into the net from the left flank and Gonzalez converted the pass into a beautiful header.
But that wasn’t the end of goals on Thursday night. In the second half, Fiorentina hurt Lech two more times – first, Giacomo Bonaventura beat Bednarek with a beautiful shot from outside the box, and then Jonathan Ikone – who came in from the bench – set the final score to 4:1.
Lech didn’t find a way to make up for the losses and although van den Brom’s squad still has the second leg to play, the chances of the squad advancing to the semifinals of UECL are very small.
However, before Lech travels to Tuscany, they will face Legia Warsaw in the league classic in the Polish capital (Sunday, 5:30 pm).
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