Lechia gets a slight advantage over Brondby

White and Greens got a 2-1 slight advantage at home in the first game against Brondby for the second qualifying round of Europe League but the Danish goal in Gdansk may play an important role in Copenhagen’s game on August 1^st.

Gdansk fights for Europa League

Lechia Gdansk stayed in a good position to advance to the third qualifying round of Europa League after winning at home Brondby by 2-1, in a game where White and Greens had opportunities to get a better result.

Lechia Gdansk – Brondby Copenhagen

After a scare provoked by the Danish team on the third minute when unmarked Hedlund shot over the bar after a corner, Gdansk team took control of the match and could have got the advantage on several occasions still on an earlier stage of the game.

Fila tested the attention of keeper Schwabe on the 13^th minute with a good shot from out of the box and, right after that, Brondby’s defense failed twice, allowing Paixao and Haraslin to be free to shot when they could have done much better given their position.

On the 25^th minute, Lechia reached the goal after Mensah brought down Mladenovic in the box. On the 11-meter spot, Paixao didn’t fail and scored the first goal of the match, with celebrations resembling the ones usually made by compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo.

When it seemed that Lechia would gain momentum to consolidate the advantage, White and Greens produced little until halftime and even suffered another scare in added time when Wilczek, with perfect ball control, was able to shot for Kuciak’s save despite having four Lechia’s defenders around him.

Second half

The second half started with a good shot wide by Paixao on the 51^st minute, but it was Brondby that would take advantage from Lechia’s passive defenders to score when Kaiser, with a simple pass between Augustyn and Nalepa, left Hedlund face to face with Kuciak for the 1-1 on the 59^th minute.

However, Lechia reacted well to Brondby’s goal and quickly grabbed again the advantage when unmarked Lipski headed successfully to goal after a great cross by Fila only four minutes later, a moment that gave again joy to home team fans.

Lechia was again near the goal on the 71th minute after a shot wide by Fila but it was Brondby that, eight minutes later, provoked another big scare to the home team when Kaiser’s header went straight into Kuciak’s bar and after that Wilczek’s shot deflected in Nalepa leaving Danish team protesting because of an alleged handball.

The last few seconds of the match could have given a much calmer trip to Denmark to Lechia in a move totally orchestrated by the three substitutes. Peszko crossed for a Makowski’s great assist for Sobiech’s header into the bar. The ball then hit the keeper but Schwabe was still able to avoid the 3-1.

Next game in Copenhagen

With this result, the winners of Polish Cup go to August 1^st second game with Brondby with a slight advantage but knowing that suffering a goal in Copenhagen and not score will stop Lechia from advancing to the next round where Portuguese Braga will be the opponent.