#UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

In the first game of the the 1/16 UEFA Europa League’s final, which took place in the capital of Poland on Thursday evening, Legia Warsaw drew 2-2 with Portuguese Sporting Lisbon. Goals for Polish team were scored by Jakub Wawrzyniak and Janusz Gol. Sporting managed to strike two goals, too. Their authors were Daniel Carriço and André Santos.

Legia Warsaw lost 0-2 its last match of the UEFA Europa League’s group stage against Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club on Thursday evening. During the game, Wojciech Skaba was Warsaw team’s first goalkeeper. Everything due to the fact that Dušan Kuciak was punished with a red card in the match against PSV Eindhoven which took place in the capital of Poland on 30th November.

Thanks to two Miroslav Radović’s and one Michał Kucharczyk’s goals Legia defeated 3-1 Romanian FC Rapid București on Thursday and won the promotion to the next stage of the UEFA Europa League. 30.786 people who gathered in the stands of Legia’s new stadium certainly couldn’t have been bored with the match. You can watch all four goals from yesterday’s game and the headlines here below.

n the group stage match (UEFA Europa League) between Legia and FC Rapid, the team from Warsaw managed to defeat 3-1 its Romanian opponents. In the first half of the game footballers of both Polish and Romanian clubs were very active on the field. Nevertheless, these were FC Rapid’s players who were controlling the game until the 26th minute when Dan Alexa was punished with the second yellow card (automatically changed into the red one) by the referee from Sweden and had to leave the pitch.

After a pathetic first half and fantastic performance on the pitch after the break, Legia’s players won their first three points in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. They defeated 3-2 Israeli Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. Miroslav Radović, who stroke the decisive winning goal in the 90th minute of the game, became the man of the match. There were over 21.000 people who gathered in the stands of Legia’s new stadium.

1.600 Legia’s fans gathered in the stands of PSV Eindhoven’s "Philips Stadion" to see the group stage’s match of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday. Though Warsaw team’s players were defeated by their rivals from the Netherlands, Legia’s fans showed an amazing piece of support at the stadium. We induce you to watch a video with Warsaw fans’ support in Eindhoven here below.

In the first match of the group stage of the UEFA Europa League Legia’s footballers were defeated 1-0 by PSV’s players in Dutch Eindhoven. The only goal was scored by Mertens in the 21st minute of the game. Warsaw team presented very poor football on the pitch on Thursday. In the first half it didn’t shoot (even once!) on the opponents’ goal. Although it was a little bit better after the break, it was still not enough to defeat players from the Netherlands.

After Legia’s match in Moscow which took place on 25th August 2011 its 1000 supporters spontaneously decided to thank their footballers for the 3-2 victory over FC Spartak in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League fourth qualifying round and for qualifying to the group stage of the tournament. That’s why they came at 2.00 a.m. to the Warsaw Chopin Airport.

After an amazing football show in Moscow, Legia’s players qualified to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League by defeating 5-4 FC Spartak in a two-legged tie. In the first leg of the fourth qualifying round which took place in Warsaw there was a 2-2 draw. Although Legia was losing 0-2 in the return match in the capital of Russia, Warsaw team’s footballers pulled themselves together and unbelievably scored three goals.

In the first leg of the UEFA Europa League’s fourth qualifying round Legia’s footballers drew 2-2 with Russian FC Spartak Moscow. Legia’s Radović and Spartak’s Ari scored two goals for their teams. There were nearly 23.500 people in the stands of Warsaw club’s stadium. Legia’s supporters prepared an impressive stands show – "ULTRAS – we hate everyone" (Polish: "ULTRAS – nienawidzimy wszystkich"). They also galvanised their players very loudly throughout the game.

Warsaw footballers managed to defeat 1-0 Turkish Gaziantepspor in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. The only goal was scored by Miroslav Radović in the 51st minute of the game. There were over 200 supporters from Warsaw who decided to travel to Gaziantep to galvanise their players. We induce you to see two photo reports from the game prepared by Bodziach and GeoS.

Legia should have played Wisła Cracow in the Polish Supercup on 23rd July. However, the game has been rescheduled for February 2012. After friendly matches against Wisła Płock and Znicz Pruszków, Legia’s coach Maciej Skorża said that his team needed to play a good game before matches in the UEFA Europa League. That’s why Warsaw team’s footballers are going to play a friendly with VMFD Žalgiris on 22nd July.

By defeating Lech Poznań 5-4 in penalties in Bydgoszcz on Tuesday, Legia’s footballers won the Polish Cup. Warsaw team gained this trophy for 14th time in its history. It also appeared in the final of these games for 20th time. Thanks to the victory players from the capital of Poland will be able to participate in the UEFA Europa League.

Bartłomiej Grzelak who didn’t manage to extend his contract with Legia, which ended on 30th June 2010, decided to become a member of FC Sibir Novosibirsk (Russian: Сибирь Новосибирск). The footballer spent three and a half years in Warsaw. The team he has recently joined is going to fight for a group stage of UEFA Europa League.

Legia only drew 2-2 with GKS Bełchatów at Łazienkowska on Saturday and didn't take advantage of Ruch's defeat. The team from Chorzów lost 0-3 with Korona in Kielce. If Legia had won its match, it would have been qualified to the UEFA Europa League. The tie means that these are Ruch's players who are going to play in the European games. The team from Warsaw closes the season with fourth-place finish. The last game was watched by nearly two thousand fans.

According to "Fakt", Legia's defender, Artur Jędrzejczyk, is going to be Korona's footballer in the spring round. The player should be loaned to the team from Kielce. In the autumn round he played for Legia in seven matches: four in the league, two in the Polish Cup and one in the qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Moreover, he managed to strike a goal in the first league game against Zagłębie Lubin.

Legia's coach, Jan Urban, was able to make use of his two players – Dickson Choto and Takesure Chinyama – during the match against Polonia Bytom on Friday. So far as Choto was on the pitch for 90 minutes, in so far as Chinyama didn’t fully recover. "Chini" appeared symbolically in the game (for the first time this season) and was on the field only for one minute. It means that he had to pause for 88 days due to his injury.

Roger Guerreiro has problems with regular appearance in Legia's first lineup this season. Due to the fact that his contract is valid only to the end of the year, the footballer is looking for a new employer. According to "Globoesporte", Brazilian Flamengo and Gremio are interested in the player. Nevertheless, Guerreiro would rather like to join Greek Olympiacos Piraeus.

Legia's footballers drew 2-2 with Broendby Copenhagen in the second leg of the third qualifying round (UEFA Europa League). Warsaw supporters showed their best side trying to galvanise the players into the fight with loud singing which lasted whole 90 minutes. We present you below nearly 20 minutes of Legia's fans' support. We also encourage you to see outstanding photos and videos from Copenhagen.

Before the second leg of the third qualifying round against Broendby (UEFA Europa League) there were lots of questions about who was going to play in the forwards. Jan Urban could choose between Marcin Mięciel and Adrian Paluchowski. Eventually, he decided to put up "Miętowy" for the first lineup. We decided then to peer Marcin Mięciel to check if Urban's decision was appropriate.

Due to today's 2-2 draw with Broendby Copenhagen, Legia dropped out of the European games. This means that Legia's adventure with UEFA Europa League finished at the third qualifying round. The first leg in Copenhagen finished with the result 1-1. Thanks to the away goals these are Danes who won the promotion to the fourth qualifying round. Legia started its adventure in the UEFA Europa League from the second qualifying round where it managed to beat Georgian Olimpi Rustawi.

Legia Warszawa drew 2-2 with Danish Broendby Copenhagen in the second leg of the third qualifying round (UEFA Europa League). Due to 1-1 draw in Copenhagen one week ago, this is Broendby which won the promotion to the next stage on away goals.

Jan Urban (Legia's coach): This defeat hurts, because we had lots of situations to score goals. We lost a goal very quickly. And this is due to inappropriate cover and unnecessary corner. The team reacted properly and we managed to equalise very quickly. Then we were able to see fight on the pitch. I can't pick at my footballers. They fought to the end. However, we presented lack of effectiveness. The second lost goal was a stupid mistake which we unfortunately had to pay a high price for.

Kent Nielsen (Broendby's coach): We were very lucky today. We are happy that we managed to go further in the UEFA Europa League. Legia played very well and fought to the bitter end. Both teams created lots of situations to score goals. However, I have to admit that Legia was playing better football than the one presented one week ago. We showed our best side today and that's why we can be happy with the promotion to the next stage.

Jan Mucha was absolutely the best player of the first leg of the third qualifying round against Broendby Copenhagen (UEFA Europa League). He saved our team from losing several goals. "We achieved an advantageous result, we were lucky a little bit, but this is football. If you play great football, however you lose, there won’t be any person who would appreciate that" – said Slovakian goalkeeper.

The second leg of the third qualifying round between Legia and Broendby (UEFA Europa League) takes place on Thursday at 8 p.m. 250 fans from Copenhagen will be able to see the match. This will be the first game since the beginning of building new stadium at Łazienkowska when supporters of the away team have the possibility to sit in the... host's stands. Legia's board prepared for Danish fans places in the "Kryta" stand (upper "A").

The second leg of the third qualifying round between Legia and Broendby Copenhagen (UEFA Europa League) is on Thursday at 8 p.m. On Monday and Tuesday tickets can buy owners of season tickets. Other supporters will be able to buy tickets on Wednesday and Thursday. Box offices at Łazienkowska will be open from Monday to Wednesday (11 a.m. – 7 p.m.) and on Thursday (from 12 p.m.). This is possible to buy tickets in big shopping centres in so-called "Wyspy Legii":

In the first leg of the third qualifying round against Broendby (UEFA Europa League), Legia drew with the team from Copenhagen 1-1. Both goals were scored after penalties. The first one was scored in the 40th minute by Legia’s Maciej Iwański. Broendby's player Farnerud equalised in the 73rd minute. We encourage you to see 54 photos taken by Mishka.

Legia will have to cope without Dickson Choto in both matches against Broendby Copenhagen (third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League). Warsaw defender got injured during the return match against Olimpi in Rustawi. "He has some problems with muscles, however the injury isn't very serious. As far as I know, the muscle hasn't been torn. There are only some muscle fibres damaged" - said Legia's coach, Jan Urban.

Wojciech Skaba played 45 minutes in the friendly game against Korona Kielce yesterday. He sat on the substitute bench during the match against Olimpi Rustawi (UEFA Europa League) a day earlier. Polonia's board would like Skaba to come to Bytom where there's introduction of the team before the beginning of the new season. Polonia would like to loan Skaba for a year. Legia's goalkeeper is also interested in a such solution, however Legia's board isn't willing to let the player go to Bytom.