We still haven’t got over the highs and lows from the end of last season and here we are at the start of the 2017/18 Ekstraklasa season.
Lechia are looking for nothing less than finishing this new season as league champions and since the end of last season the team have been working hard in training and putting plans in place to make this dream a reality.
Summer signings
This season sees some new faces in the squad and backroom staff, I would like to introduce and welcome the following:
Mateusz Matras signed a four year contact with the Lechia after leaving Pogon Szczecin. The 26 year old defensive midfielder is a welcome addition to coach Nowak’s squad.
Piotr Wiśniewski hung up his playing boots at the end of last season after 12 years with Lechia but he has now signed a 2 year contract to join the 1st team coaching staff.
Florian Schikowski is a 19 year old midfielder who has signed a 3 year contact with the option to extend for a further year with Lechia after leaving German side Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Michał Nalepa joined Lechia from Ferencvárosi TC, the 24 year old defender has signed a four year contact.
Adam Chrzanowski has returned from his loan spell at Fiorentina the 18 year old defender has picked up lot of experience in the Italian league last season.
Milen Gamakov has also returned from his loan spell at Ruch Chorzów, the 23 year old Bulgarian midfielder is happy to be back at Lechia and is also expecting his first child very soon (Congratulations).
Mateusz Lewandowski joins Lechia on a 3 year contact from Pogon Szczecin, the 23 year defender signed in February but joined up with the Lechia squad in July in preparation for this season.
Dr. Adam Owen joined the 1st team backroom staff, the 37 year old Welshman will be assistant coach and will also be responsible for the physical preparation of the players. Adam has a vast brings a vast knowledge having worked with some of the biggest names in world football and is also a leading expert in sports science. Welcome to Gdansk Adam!
The first match of the season
Lechia were away at Wisla Plock on Friday night at 18:00 to kick off the 2017/18 Ekstraklasa campaign.
6889 fans were at the stadium to welcome the new season, there was also a good turn out from the faithful Lechia fans who were, as always, in fine voice.
Marco Paixao continued his form from last season and opened the scoring for the White and Greens in the 24th minute. It was a perfectly accurate cross from Pawel Stolarski that found Paixao’s head and he had no problem finding the back of the net. 0:1 Lechia.
In the 37th minute Mateusz Matras scored a dream debut goal after Milos Krasi
crossed the ball into the penalty area Matras was able to control it and redirect into the goal at the far post. 0:2 Lechia.
Second half
In the second half Lechia dominated the match and in 55th minute Michał Nalepa had a great chance but headed it just wide of the post. 2 minutes later Dominik Furman was show a second yellow card and Wilsa were down to 10 men.
Lechia created more chances as the match drew to a close but even with a few long range efforts they didn’t find the back of the net.
Full Time 0:2
Dusan Kuciak kept a clean sheet again making it 8 in a row now!
Man of the match
Marco Paixao
Next Match
Lechia Vs Cracovia – Saturday 22nd July at 18:00
This is the first home came of the season so come and show your support – ticket information can be found here http://lechia.pl/aktualnosci/zapraszamy-po-bilety-na-mecz-lechia-cracovia-12149
Post Match
Coach Nowak made the following comments in his post match press conference:
‘We proved to everyone that we’re still a strong team even with a slightly modified personnel’
