LECH POZNAŃ PREVIEW

It’s Thursday night, and you know what that means: yeah, it’s Europa League action again for the Lads! The Mackems are back on their travels, heading east to Poland, where Polish champions Lech Poznań lie in wait. After a much changed side saw off Portuguese minnows SC Torreense seven days previously, thanks to goals from Jules Ahoka and, most dramatically, Noah Sadiki: As Sunderland are now looking to make it three wins from three. 

But can they put their domestic woes behind them and do this? A win in Poland will certainly put them in a great position to qualify for the knockout stages without the need of a play-off.

Our Opponents

As stated above, our hosts, Lech Poznań, are the reigning Champions of the Ekstraklasa, Poland’s top division. They have won the title ten times in their history, the last two coming in successive seasons. Among the most notable players to have worn the Railwaymen’s shirt is a certain Robert Lewandowski. The Polish Striker spent two seasons at Poznań early in his career before moving to Germany in 2010 really elevated his career to a new level.

Poznań have a long storied history in European football, having first appeared in 1978. Since then, they have featured in approximately 190 European matches. Their first outing came in the UEFA Cup, where the Railwaymen lost 10-2 on aggregate to Bundesliga side MSV Duisburg. 

Their most successful European campaign to date was in the 2022-23 Conference League,  when they lost in the quarter-finals to eventual finalists Fiorentina 6-4 over two legs. They also reached the last 16 of the European Cup, now known as the Champions League, in 1991, where again their conquerors were an eventual finalist, this time Olympique de Marseille.

So far, however,  this season’s Europa League campaign has failed to get off the ground. Lech Poznań currently sit at the bottom of the table. Two games, two losses with no goals scored and eight conceded. Nevertheless, we can ill afford to assume that Thursday’s opponents will be a walk in the park. If last week’s encounter with Torreense taught us anything, it is that no European fixture should be taken lightly. They have some decent players, one being tricky Honduran winger Luis Palma who has won club honours with Celtic and Olympiacos before joining Poznań initially on loan last season.

The Lads

It’s safe to say that the Lads European form has certainly not mirrored itself domestically. But I’m sure things will come good sooner rather than later. We certainly weren’t given an easy ride seven days ago, and I really thought the raft of changes to the starting XI was going to backfire massively.

However, we dug in (a bit like watching Geoff Boycott bat) and the impressive Jules Ahoka cancelled out the Torreense’s thunderbolt. I’m already convinced that Ahoka has what it takes to be a real star, especially if he continues to learn from experienced players such as Granit Xhaka. Then came Noah Sadiki’s winner, a sweet finish from Xhaka’s nod down, and boy did he celebrate! It was his first ever goal for the Lads, and he was loving every second and why wouldn't he.

With a tough Premier League encounter with Leeds on Sunday, I’m expecting changes to the starting line-up once again, but hopefully not quite as many as RLB made in Portugal. It’s now time for our natural wingers, Nilson Angulo and Malick Fofana (the latter especially), to step up and show their quality and worth to the side.

 I’m going with this side, although with my luck, it'll probably be completely wrong:

                        Roefs

Hume – Mukiele – O’Nien – Reinildo

                 Xhaka – Sadiki

         Diarra – Le Fée – Fofana

                      Brobbey

The Official in Charge

Taking charge of our third Europa League fixture is Hungarian referee Balázs Berke. Interestingly, his assistants are also called Balázs which is an unusual little fact. The 42-year-old has officiated in five previous Europa League matches, his last one being in Cyprus, where Omonia Nicosia defeated Celta Vigo 1-0. During those games, he has issued 16 yellows and one red card which was from two bookable offences. Domestically, he has over 1000 yellows to his name in his native country and has also officiated in the Egyptian National League as well as the fourth tier of Swiss football.