League of Nations | Croatia allows itself to be linked with Poland Lewandowski
Croatia will continue to rely on itself to reach the Nations League quarter-finals after drawing 3-3 on Tuesday when they visit Warsaw. in a contest in which they squandered a two-goal lead (1-3) against unbeaten Poland, who had to make do without their biggest star, Barcelona’s Robet Lewandowski, in slight discomfort for the first hour.
A setback that seemed almost an insurmountable problem for the Polish team, who arrived for the match after a heavy defeat (1-3) they suffered just three days earlier in the same game against Portugal.
Perhaps this is why the dominant character with which Michal Probiz’s team began the competition was surprising. They not only took possession of the ball, but after five minutes of the game they already dominated the scoreboard (1-0) thanks to a goal from Piotr Zielinski.
The Inter Milan midfielder, who scored Poland’s only goal in the last match against Portugal, once again demonstrated his ability to reach the opposition penalty area in a beautiful combination with Kacper Urbanski on the left flank, which Zielinski finished with a precise and powerful cross.
A goal that seemed to put an end to all the doubts with which the local team had started the game, having completely outclassed drab Croatia in the first twenty minutes. But the slightest failure was enough for Poland to completely drown. Michal Probiž’s men were unable to stop the Croatian goal, which made it 1-1 in the twentieth minute thanks to a spectacular volley from outside the penalty area by striker Borna Sosa.which caught the knocked out ball, which, it would seem, did not entail the slightest danger.
A real setback for the locals, who, without knowing how, six minutes later found themselves with a 1-3 advantage on the scoreboard after strikes from Petr Suchic and Martin Baturina punished the Polish anxiety with two almost consecutive goals. A confusion from which Poland did not recover until the final minutes of the first half, when they managed to get back into the game thanks to a goal (2-3) from Nikola Zalewski.
In fact, the Polish team were able to restore the tie before the break thanks to Jakub Kaminski’s shot in extra time, which hit the Croatian goalkeeper. Dominik Livakovic again avoided a draw with Poland two minutes into the second half with another superb intervention on Nikola Zalewski’s strike which looked destined for a goal.
In the following minutes, Croatia reacted and tested their opponents with shots from Luka Modric, Andrej Kramaric and Igor Matanovic, to which Polish goalkeeper Marcin Bulka reacted with the same reflexes as his Balkan counterpart.
But even then, Poland continued to look for an equalizer, forcing the local coach to turn to his biggest star, Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, who started the match from the bench as a precaution with what was said to be a “minor injury” . by the coach himself at the beginning of the match.
Lewandowski, who played a crucial role in the draw, after keeping the ball close to the penalty area until Sebastian Szymanski arrived to make the final score 3–3 in the 68th minute. a powerful strike from Igualada, which almost spoiled the local team with a strong tackle from Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic on Lewandowski while trying to clear the ball outside the penalty area, which cost the Balkan goalkeeper a red card fourteen minutes before the end.
Poland didn’t know how to take advantage of their numerical superiority to finally turn around the score (3-3), which leaves Croatia depending on themselves to get a ticket to the quarter-finals of the Nations League, the exact opposite of the Poles they need. A Balkan puncture over the last two days allowed us to secure a place in the top eight.