The Champions League hit is not for Poles. Robert Lewandowski might have been surprised
Paris Saint-Germain won 2-1, ending a blockbuster match in the Champions League on the hot ground of FC Barcelona. It was an interesting spectacle.
In fact, the teams entered Wednesday’s Champions League blockbuster in good moods. FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain had three points at the opening of the league stage, so the question remained unanswered who would be better in the clash of giants. The semi-finalists (hosts) and winners (visitors) of the previous edition of the Champions League faced each other on the pitch in the capital of Catalonia.
Champions League: Wojciech Szczęsny in goal, “Lewy” from the bench
From the perspective of Polish fans, the good news was that Wojciech Szczęsny appeared in the starting lineup. This is no surprise, considering that Barca’s competitor and team number one, Joan Garcia, was out due to an injury and his return is scheduled for November at the earliest.
However, the absence of Robert Lewandowski in the starting line-up might have been surprising. Although the Pole has recently been playing the role of a substitute in coach Hansi Flick’s team, he also impresses with his effectiveness, which could convince more people to use the Pole’s services. However, it turned out that the German coach chose Ferran Torres in the middle of the attack until the first minute.
The choice of the Spaniard, not the Pole, proved successful in terms of his goalscoring achievements. Torres put the ball into the net in the first half, closing off a nice, lacy move by Barcelona. The Spanish champions opened the scoring in the 19th minute of the match. It is also worth praising Marcus Rashford who assisted in the goal. The Englishman made a perfect tempo move that the Spaniard could finish with his eyes closed.
Paris Saint-Germain, however, did not intend to just look at what the hosts were doing. The answer came in the first half. Sleepy Mayulu scored in the 38th minute, giving an important signal for the Parisians. PSG could have been leading in the first half, but Bradley Barcola did not take advantage of the perfect one-on-one situation with Szczęsny. It must be admitted that the Polish goalkeeper had more work overall than his counterpart from Paris. Szczęsny didn’t make any phenomenal interventions, he played a solid match, but in the end Barca could not avoid defeat.
With Lewandowski on the pitch, from the 72nd minute, the hosts scored a goal to make the score 1-2. Goncalo Ramos closed PSG’s counterattack, using a pass from Achraf Hakimi very well. The visiting captain served the Portuguese perfectly, thus depriving the hosts of any hope for a good result. A great figure for Barca, currently PSG coach Luis Enrique, could have triumphed.
In the background, one may wonder what would happen if the Parisians had to cope with playing with ten against eleven opponents. In the second half, referee Michael Oliver appears to have made a huge mistake by not giving Nuno Mendes a second yellow and, consequently, red card after a foul just outside the penalty area. Lamine Yamal and Barca’s counterattack at 2-1 was stopped, and as a whole, as the realities showed, the result itself also turned to the detriment of Lewandowski and Szczęsny’s team.
Poles’ performance? Szczęsny for a solid, school “four”. Lewandowski? Basically an anonymous entry for just over fifteen minutes. However, the Pole might have been surprised that he received so little time from the German coach.
