Royal Charleroi – Lech Poznań 1:2 

There were enough exhilarating moments on Thursday night to go around a few games. The opening minutes at Stade du Pays de Charleroi were full of imprecise passes – the two teams were indisputably nervous knowing what was at stake. However, Lech finally took control of the game and managed to dominate their rival and win a comfortable advantage before halftime.

First, Ramirez decided to shoot from outside the box and the ball bounced off one of the defenders, leaving the goalkeeper confused and helpless as it flew into the net. A few minutes later Puchacz changed the score to 2:0 for Lech with a strong shot with his left foot.

The Belgians came back for the second half determined to catch up with their opponent. A couple of minutes into the second half, the referee spotted Satka’s foul in the box and pointed to the white spot in the penalty area. Just when it seemed that the hosts would be just one goal down, Bednarek saved the penalty kick. Unluckily for the team from Poznan, the Polish keeper was helpless when Fall fired a shot under the crossbar in the 56^th minute.

From that moment on, the match turned into a series of dangerous offensive attempts, one after another. Both teams had plenty of good goal-scoring opportunities with Ishak and Dessoleil both hitting the posts, but the two keepers intervened without mistakes. Bednarek’s performance on Thursday night was extraordinary and largely thanks to the goalkeeper, Lech managed to concede just one goal. In the injury time, Kamiński got a perfect chance to set the final score to 3:1 – the 18-year-old’s beautiful individual run would have been remembered by many if it wasn’t for an imprecise finish that did not, unfortunately, result in a goal.

The referee’s final whistle initiated a true euphoria within Lech’s squad which lasted until late night hours when the players were welcomed in Poznań by the awaiting crowd of supporters.

Royal Charleroi - Lech Poznań 1:2 (0:2)

Goals: Fall (56.) - Ramirez (33.), Puchacz (41.)

Red cards: Satka 77

Charleroi: Penneteau - Busi (57. Hendrickx ), Willems (85. Henen), Dessoleil, Kayembe - Fall, Morioka, Ilaimaharitra (90. Costa), Gholizadeh - Nicholson, Rezaei

Lech: Bednarek - Czerwiński, Satka, Crnomarković, Kravets (71. Skóraś) - Kamiński, Tiba, Moder, Puchacz - Ramirez (78. Rogne) - Ishak (87. Marchwiński)