Champions League Preview: Legia Warsaw -v- Dundalk

LEGIA WARSAW

Legia Warsaw will go into tomorrow evening’s Champions League play-off second leg at the Polish Army Stadium boasting a comfortable two-goal advantage over their opponents, Dundalk FC.

Legia, despite being inherently ordinary in large chunks of last week’s first encounter, left the Dublin Arena having put one foot firmly in the Champions League proper on the 21st anniversary of their last group stage appearance.

A dubious 56th minute penalty was converted by Warsaw’s hotshot, Nemanja Nikolic, before the Polish champions administered a defining blow in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Aleksandar Prijovic latched onto an incisive pass from Tomasz Jodlowiec before calmly lofting the ball over the advancing Gary Rogers. Legia, without having as much offensive possession as the Lilywhites, had more penetration in attack during last week’s tie. 

While Hungarian international Nikolic failed to convince all present that he was worthy of the hype surrounding him, his ability to bring his midfielders into play, most significantly left-winger Michal Kucharczyk, was a feature of the match. His willingness to offer his team an outlet in behind also meant he was able to occupy the attention of both Paddy Barrett and Andy Boyle throughout.

Dundalk will arguably target both of Legia’s full-backs tomorrow night as a consequence of the performances of Lukasz Broz and Adam Hlousek in Dublin last week. Neither had nights to remember having been terrorised by the Lilywhites’ flankers, with Hlousek’s night having been compounded by a late yellow card.

Their sub-par performances were disguised, though, by the excellent defensive showings of Legia’s centre-back pairing of Michal Pazdan and Igor Lewczuk. Pazdan, a Polish international was superb last week and was a contender for man of the match, while Lewczuk always seemed to be in the right place inside his own 18-yard box.

Domestically, Legia have been enduring a turbulent start to their campaign. They are yet to win at home this season, they sit eleventh in the table with six points and they lost 3-1 to Arka Gdynias on Saturday having been three goals down at one stage while resting all but goal keeper, Arkadiusz Malarz from their victory in Dublin six-days ago.

DUNDALK FC

The biggest game in Dundalk’s 113-year history, a two-goal victory over Legia Warsaw tomorrow evening and Dundalk could well secure their place in the group stages of UEFA’s premier club competition.

In order to do so though, the Lilywhites will have to draw on the spirit of July 2014 when they visited Hajduk Split and defeated the locals 2-1 against all the odds. Despite losing the tie, that victory was the catalyst for Dundalk to go on and secure their first league title in 19 years later that season.

In the aftermath of Wednesday night’s agonising defeat, the Dundalk players were all quick to point out their winning performance in Split when faced with the same situation, i.e. a two-goal deficit.

Dundalk performed admirably during the first-leg, and gave all they had for the cause. Led by their inspirational ‘skipper Stephen O’Donnell and the abrasive presence of Chris Shields, Dundalk were able to mount several attacks, most of which came in a steadfast opening 20 minutes, with Daryl Horgan and Patrick McEleney looking firmly at home at the highest level of European football.

O’Donnell and Shields gave the Lilywhites the platform to attack aggressively, while they also offered invaluable protection to their back four with their tenacious courting of Legia’s technically erudite centre-field threesome. The absence of O’Donnell for the second-leg through suspension could well be pivotal, with the Lilywhites’ squad lacking the depth and experience to be able to atone for such an absence.

Furthermore, Dundalk will be without Ciaran Kilduff who sustained a minor knee injury in training, meaning that the younger O’Connor brother, Michael, could feature in Poland. Ronan Finn and Patrick McEleney both played in last week’s match having been fitness doubts in the build-up, while Brian Gartland has returned to the fray following a wrist injury.

Dundalk, though, lost last week’s tie having conceded two very avoidable goals. The first saw Andy Boyle penalised for hand ball from a Steeven Langil shot which appeared to be going wide and the second from a very slack piece of defending.

The penalty decision provoked a lot of debate and anger on the behalf of the Lilywhites’ players and faithful alike, with Stephen Kenny labelling the decision as “appalling.”

Kenny appeared quite solemn post-match on Wednesday night, however, he did offer quite candid thoughts on both his team’s performance and their chances of defeating Legia by the margin required in Warsaw tomorrow night.

The Dundalk boss said: “Overall, I thought that we played brilliantly on the night. Our retention of the ball, our individual and technical play, our passing and movement of the ball was brilliant. I’m very proud of the players, but also so disappointed to lose 2-0, it’s extremely harsh.

“Realistically we’re up against it and in a really difficult position. Losing 2-0 at home means that we have to go over there and score three to win or at least two. We’re presented with a real mountain to climb, but it’s still only half-time and we’ll go [to Poland] and give it a real go.”

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR).

MATCH FACTS

This will be only the second time that an Irish club side have visited a counterpart from Poland. St. Patrick’s Athletic, Dundalk’s title predecessors, visited Legia in their opening Champions League qualifier in 2014 and secured a credible 1-1 draw with Christy Fagan on target for the Inchicore men. Legia won the second leg at Tallaght Stadium, 5-0.

Legia are unbeaten in their last seven home Champions League qualifiers (W3 D4), while Dundalk have won only two of their last 19 away European games, both in the Europa League qualifying phase in 2014/15 (D3 L14), versus Jeunesse Esch and Hajduk Split respectively.

The only side to overcome a two-goal deficit from the first leg of a Champions League play-off qualifier was Glasgow Celtic in 2013/14 against Shakhter Karagandy. They progressed 3-2 on aggregate.

MATCH BETTING

Legia Warsaw 2/5; Draw 7/2; Dundalk FC 6/1. 

MATCH PREDICTION

Legia Warsaw 2-1 Dundalk FC

Legia Warsaw

Injured: None.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.

Dundalk FC

Injured: Ciaran Kilduff.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: Stephen O’Donnell.