Lech Poznań - Shakhtyor Soligorsk 3:1

Lech got the first goal-scoring opportunity on the Thursday evening. Kostevych raced down the left flank and his pass reached Makuszewski, however, the latter’s attempt was blocked by one of Shakhtyor’s defenders. Shortly afterward, the Belarussian team attacked and caused problems to Lech’s defensive line. In the 9^th minute, Cañas converted a cross from a corner kick into a header but the shot flew a couple of centimeters above the crossbar. In the 15th minute, Lech took the lead. Kostevych initiated the offensive action with a run down the left flank and passed the ball to Jevtic. The Swiss midfielder cleverly sent the ball to Gytkjaer and the Dane placed the ball in the back of the net.

A moment later, Shakhtyor’s players Ebong and Burko both saw yellow cards for brutal fouls. Kostevych kept on playing a key role in Lech’s offensive actions and one of his passes to Gytkjaer resulted in a shot that flew just a couple of centimeters above the crossbar. In the 27^th minute, the Belarussian team had a chance to equalize. Bakaj recovered the ball following Rogne’s mistake in the defensive but luckily for the hosts, the footballer’s shot was off target. Lech replied with another attack led down the left flank but once again the players from Poznan lacked precision. Shortly afterward, Lech’s defensive line had problems when Kovalev raced into their box but Cywka was in the right place at the right time and intercepted the final pass.

In the 35th minute, Jevtic had an opportunity to score a second goal for his team but he was once again successfully blocked by the Belarussian defenders. Meanwhile, Cywka’s attempt from a couple of minutes later was off target. Lech finished the first half with a few unsuccessful attempts from Gytkjaer that were either off target, or stopped by Shakhtyor’s keeper.

At halftime, Lech’s coach made a substitution and replaced Janicki with Orłowski who was debuting for the senior team. The opening minutes of the second half were dominated by the hosts. The players from Poznan had a couple of opportunities to change the score but they either lacked precision, or Shakhtyor defended well. For a long period of time the two teams fought for the ball in the midfield and struggled to take control of the match.

Shortly afterward, Buric sent a great pass to Amaral who, unfortunately for the hosts, failed to beat the Belarussian keeper. In the 79^th minute, Shakhtyor managed to equalize. One of the Belarussian footballers sent a cross into Lech’s box initiating chaos in the hosts’ penalty area. It was Denis Laptev that managed to redirect the ball into the back of the net with his heel. Both teams struggled to create any more goal-scoring chances. Shortly before the final whistle, Amaral fired two shots at Shaktyor’s goal but the first one was stopped by the keeper and the second one was far off target. The one-goal draw meant that the match would proceed into extra time.

Po chwili Lech wyprowadził dobry kontratak, jednak lekki strzał Amarala został zablokowany przez obrońcę. The next part of the match started off with Shakhtyor’s offensive action but it was Lech that scored another goal. Radut sent a long ball to Amaral who won a clash with one of the defenders and passed the ball to Gytkjaer. The Dane put the ball in the back of the net effortlessly. Amaral had a couple more opportunities to score himself but his attempts were unsuccessful. The Belarussian team had one more chance to score before the end of the first half but Lech’s defensive line made no mistake.

The second half of extra time was dominated by Lech who, once in a while, led a counterattack. In the 117^th minute, Balanovich received a second yellow card and was sent off the pitch. A minute later, Gytkjaer placed the ball in the back of the net once more, setting the final score to 3:1. Before the referee announced the end of the match, two Shakhtyor players saw a red card. The score helped Lech advance to the 3^rd round of Europa League qualifiers.

Lech Poznań – Shakhtyor Soligorsk 3:1 (1:0, 1:1, 2:1)

Goals: Christian Gytkjaer (15’, 94’, 118’) – Denis Laptev (79’)

Yellow cards: Tomasz Cywka (52’), Pedro Tiba (70’), Maciej Makuszewski (83’) - Max Ebong (17’), Igor Burko (18’), Pavel Rybak (39’, 120'), Julius Szöke (64’), Denis Laptev (93’), Sergei Matveichik (102’), Sergei Balanovich (117’, 117')

Red cards: Sergei Balanovich (117’), Pavel Rybak (120’), Denis Laptev (120’)

Lech Poznań: Jasmin Burić - Rafał Janicki (46’ Maciej Orłowski), Thomas Rogne, Vernon De Marco - Maciej Makuszewski, Tomasz Cywka, Maciej Gajos (89’ Mihai Radut), Volodymyr Kostevych - Pedro Tiba (97’ Łukasz Trałka), Christian Gytkjaer, Darko Jevtić (66’ Joao Amaral)

Shakhtyor Soligorsk: Andrei Klimovich – Igor Burko, Pavel Rybak, Maksim Bordachev, Sergei Matveichik – Aleksandr Selvaya, Julius Szöke (91’ Mikhail Shibun), Yuri Kovalev, Roger Cañas (73’ Vitali Lisakovich), Max Ebong (46’ Sergei Balanovich) – Elis Bakaj (65’ Denis Laptev)