So close, yet so far. The Champions League is not for Raków Częstochowa

Raków Częstochowa failed to defeat FC Copenhagen in an away Champions League qualifying match. The advancement to the group stage of this most important club competition failed because the Polish champions simply had too few football arguments on their side.

A brave start for Raków Częstochowa against FC Copenhagen

After losing 0-1 in Częstochowa, Raków did not have much to lose by showing up at the famous Parken Stadium. Therefore, from the first whistle we watched the Polish champions play bravely – and, as a result, also risky. The hosts pressed high and were close to taking over the ball several times at such a critical moment when the Medaliks’ defense tried to play from the back.

As for clear chances, Raków had the first really good one in the whole match when Papanikolaou received a pass from the right wing. Although he had some problems with the reception, he managed to pass one opponent, but then he missed the target from the air.

A surprising blow from FC Copenhagen

Unfortunately, in the 35th minute, after a moment of confusion in the Raków penalty area, FC Copenhagen took the lead. A bad kick resulted in Vavro taking over the ball. He fired a shot from a distance and surprised Kovacevic.

What’s more, just before the break, Claesson took advantage of the slackness in Raków’s defensive formation, sending a perfect pass to a colleague running into the visitors’ sixteen. The recipient of this move was Larsson, who was not guarded by anyone from Częstochowa, and as a result, he hit the crossbar from close range.

Raków Częstochowa was chasing the match result, but…

The Lions almost increased their lead a few minutes after the break. The Polish champions tried to counterattack, and Papanikolaou was easily outplayed. As a result, the ball went to Goncalves, who swirled the opponents around in their penalty area and then fired a shot – blocked at the last moment by the visitors’ defense.

More than an hour of the game had passed, and Raków still remained without any on-target shot on Grabara’s goal. Nevertheless, he was a bit lucky in one of the situations when Kocherhin’s shot from outside the penalty area bounced off the post. It took 87 minutes for Grabara to finally capitulate. The hero of the Polish champions was Zwoliński, who took advantage of Tudor’s clever teamwork in the 16 Danes and led to a draw from close range.

The Medalists needed only one goal to take it to overtime and extend their dreams. Unfortunately, they failed to do so. The return match ended with the score 1-1, and the aggregate victory was 2-1 for the team from Copenhagen. It was the Lions who qualified for the Champions League. The Częstochowa team will play in the group stage of the Europa League in the fall.