Lech Poznań - Sunderland A.F.C. 1:1

Niels Frederiksen’s side are enjoying their best start to a season in the 21st century. They have reached the Europa League league phase for the first time in six years and continue to pick up victories in domestic competition. However, their first two European fixtures did not go as planned. Lech faced two very strong opponents and were unfortunately unable to match them, losing 4:0 to the English side Crystal Palace in their opening fixture before suffering the same scoreline against Bayer Leverkusen at Bułgarska Street. The Poznań side did not have to wait long for another opportunity to get their first points of the competition - just a week after facing the German side, they welcome Sunderland at the Enea Stadium.

Thursday’s match got off to a dramatic start, with the guests opening the scoring in the second minute. The English side capitalised on a mistake by Mateusz Lis while playing the ball out from the back, and Timur Tuterov headed past the Polish goalkeeper. Just seconds later, Lech created their first clean chance. The Poznań side won the ball in a similar fashion and rushed into the guests’ penalty area. Pablo Rodríguez played a pass to Patrik Wålemark, who took Lech's first shot of the match. The Sunderland goalkeeper parried the effort, and Antoni Kozubal followed up with a header, but Roefs was alert once again.

Both sides continued to push forward in search of another goal, but neither found the net. Sunderland came close to scoring first, with their attempt hitting the side netting, before Mikael Ishak and Patrik Wålemark combined efforts to create a dangerous chance for Lech. Shortly later, Mateusz Lis made two important saves. 15 minutes into the match, Daniel Håkans found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper - the Finnish winger took his shot, but the ball went wide. The English side responded with two more attacks, one requiring another intervention from Lis and the other ending with the ball hitting the post. Sunderland made two further attempts to extend their lead before halftime, but they were unsuccessful.

The second half followed a similar pattern - Sunderland had several goal-scoring opportunities, but none proved good enough to beat Lis or find the back of the net. Lech were also searching for an equaliser, which finally arrived in the 70th minute thanks to Leo Bengtsson. Wålemark delivered a corner into the penalty area, where players from both teams rose to meet the ball. After one of them made contact with a header, the 28-year-old Swedish winger reacted quickest. He made no mistake, firing the ball into the net.

Frederiksen’s men then looked for a second goal to take the lead. Immediately after the break, Lech pushed forward towards the guests’ penalty area. A cross from the left found Wålemark, whose shot was stopped by the Sunderland goalkeeper. Michał Gurgul tried to convert the rebound, but the Academy player’s effort was blocked as well. There was still plenty of drama late on - Sunderland’s Rigg came closest to scoring in the 82nd minute, but his effort went wide just centimetres over the right-hand corner of Lis’s goal.

Lech Poznań will play their next Europa League fixture on Thursday, November 5th, when they travel to Lisbon to face the group leaders, Benfica. Before then, Frederiksen and his men will head to Warsaw for a league clash with Legia before travelling to Tarnobrzeg to begin their Polish Cup campaign in the round of 32.