Lech Poznan - CF Os Belenenses 0:0

In the first Europa League match of the group phase Lech Poznan drew with Portuguese Belenenses 0:0 at INEA Stadium, and therefore collected a valuable point to add to the account.

For the past five years Lech has been waiting to reappear in the Europa League group stage. In the first round the team from Poznan faced Portuguese Belenenses at INEA Stadium. The club that has been ranked 6th in the league last season advanced to the group phase for the first time ever, but their coach emphasized, that the want more than just to get experience from playing in the competition.

Since the opening minutes Skorza's players were focused on the offensive, however they seemed unable to pass Portuguese defense line. For the first 15 minutes most of the play took place in the midfield. Lech was in possession of the ball and attempted to create goal-scoring opportunities, while Belenenses waited for a chance to counterattack.

Lech added its first shot on target to the statistics in the 21st minute. Dudka sent a pass to Thomalla and the German gave the ball to Formella, who dribbled in the penalty area before firing an accurate shot, however much too easy for the goalkeeper.

The team from Belen remained patiently waited for an opportunity of their own and they got one in the second quarter of the match when Rosa converted a corner kick into a header. However, the ball flew above the crossbar. In the 35th minute Buric was forced to intervene desperately one of the corner kicks ended with the ball hitting the crossbar.

Shortly before the halftime Lech had its best goal-scoring opportunity so far when Kadar sent a cross into the penalty area and Tralka converted it into a shot, but yet again, it wasn't on target.

In the opening minutes of the second half Belenenses began attacking more intensively. Martins had a good chance to score, but his inaccurate shot stopped on the post and the ball was effectively cleared out by one of Lechs defenders. However, hosts had better goal-scoring opportunities. Lech came very close to changing the score when Ceesay played a long, flat cross into the penalty area where Thomalla was waiting, but it turned out that a final touch wasnt enough and due to the defenders' desperate, yet successful intervention, the ball did not roll into the net.

In the 73rd minute Lech once again cause trouble to the Portuguese defenders. This time Szymon Pawlowski led a counterattack that he converted into a technical shot. Unluckily for the hosts, the goalkeeper managed to change the ball's path before it fell into the back of the net. A few minutes later Formella tried by himself, but his strong shot from the corner of the penalty area was also stopped by the goalkeeper. All of Lech's attempts were either not on target, or simply unproblematic for Belenenses to stop.

The image of the game did not change, although when Hamalainen, Pawlowski and Linetty came in on the pitch, the play gained some dynamics and as the minutes pass, more and more time Lech spent in the Portuguese penalty area, aiming at the goal. However, Lech's failed to score and the match eventually ended with a goalless tie.

In the next Europa League game Lech will face FC Basel. The clash will take place in Switzerland on October 1st, at 7 pm.

Yellow cards: Dudka, Ceesay, Kadar - Amorim

Lech: Jasmin Burić - Kebba Ceesay, Marcin Kamiński, Paulus Arajuuri, Tamas Kadar - Łukasz Trałka (46. Karol Linetty), Dariusz Dudka - Dariusz Formella, Dawid Kownacki (60. Kasper Hamalainen), Gergo Lovrencsics (67. Szymon Pawłowski) - Denis Thomalla

Os Belenenses: Ventura - Joao Amorim, Tonel, Brandao, Andre Geraldes - Andre Sousa (80. Ricardo Dias) - Rosa, Carlos Martins (89. Dalcio Gomes), Ruben Pinto, Leal - Fabio Sturgeon (73. Kuca)