A place on the podium for Lech Cup hosts

The youth team from Poznan performed very well on Sunday. First, the 10 and 11-year-olds scored 3 goals against Benfica before the first half had finished. It was Przebierala and Dziamski who, within 7 minutes, found a way to place the ball in the net 3 times, securing an early win for Lech. The game ended with a 3:1 score.

The next match Lech youngsters played didn’t go so well. In a direct clash with Slavia Prague – who won all their games so far – the team from Poznan scored first but later conceded 2 goals in unlucky circumstances. The Czech players added another goal afterwards and eventually triumphed in the match. At that point, it became clear that in order to play in the final, Lech needed to beat Hertha BSC. Despite a good performance in the opening minutes of the match, the hosts failed to defeat the German rival. Dziamski scored the only goal for Lech in that match. The final score was 3:1.

Meanwhile, Arsenal London – one of Europa League competitors who played simultaneously with the Champions League teams – struggled to deliver good performances The youngsters from London began the tournament with 3 wins, however, in the next couple of matches, they were defeated by every rival. On Sunday, they played their last game against FK Austria Vienna. The winner would finish the competition on the 7^th spot. The London stars won the clash and finished the tournament on a positive note. Meanwhile, their friends from Chelsea were ranked 5^th, having beaten RSC Anderlecht 3:0 in their final match.

Lech Poznan managed to win a spot on the podium following an exhilarating clash with SL Benfica. The game finished with a 3:3 draw, hence the match went into penalties and the Poznan players won 5:4. This particular clash was full of turning points, beautiful goals, bookings, and impressive saves from the keepers. Similarly to the previous edition of Lech Cup, the hosts were ‘lucky’ in the penalty kicks and made no mistakes. Meanwhile, Lech’s goalkeeper Szymanski successfully stopped one of Benfica’s footballers from scoring a penalty and helped his team secure a place on the podium.

The final belonged to Slavia Prague – a team that went undefeated for the whole tournament. The Czech youngsters played efficient football which was also a pleasure to watch, and by doing so, they triumphed in the last game of the tournament, having confidently beaten Hertha BSC 3:1. In the end, it was Anderlecht’s Mael Debondt that was the top scorer of this year’s edition of the competition. Meanwhile, Igor Draszczyk scored the most goals for Lech Poznan (6).

Sunday matches - results

Champions League

Slavia Prague – Hertha BSC 3:2
Benfica SL – Lech Poznań 1:3
Goals: (14.) - Jakub Przebierała (2., 6.) Adrian Dziamski (7.)
Benfica SL – Hertha BSC 0:5
Lech Poznań – Slavia Prague 1:3
Goals: Igor Draszczyk (6.) – (9.), (11.), (15.)
Lech Poznań – Hertha BSC 1:3
Goals: Adrian Dziamski (15.) - (6.), (8.), (12.)
Slavia Prague – Benfica SL 1:0

Europa League

Arsenal F.C. – FK Austria Vienna 2:4
RSC Anderlecht – Chelsea F.C. 1:1
RSC Anderlecht – FK Austria Vienna 6:1
Chelsea F.C. – Arsenal F.C. 2:0
Chelsea F.C. – FK Austria Vienna 3:2
Arsenal F.C. – RSC Anderlecht 0:1

(Duration of the matches: 1 x 15 min)

Match for seventh place:

Arsenal F.C. - FK Austria Vienna 8:4

Match for fifth place:

RSC Anderlecht - Chelsea F.C. 0:3

Match for third place:

Lech Poznań - Benfica SL 3:3 (p. 5:4)

Goals: Maciej Wojciechowski (8., 9.), Wojciech Mońka (15.) - (4.), (12.), (13.)

Final:

Slavia Prague - Hertha BSC 3:1

(Duration of the matches: 2 x 10 min)