Champions League Report: Legia Warsaw 1 - 1 Dundalk (Legia win 3-1 on aggregate)

Dundalk came very close to staging a mammoth upset versus Legia Warsaw at the Polish Army Stadium, but their dreams of reaching the highest table of European football with famous away win were dashed by a 92^nd minute Michal Kucharczyk goal.

The SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Champions came into this game with a mountain to climb at two goals down. The awarding of a penalty in Dublin last week may be in a grey area of the rules of the game, but Dundalk’s task was crystal clear – they needed to score at least twice to stay in the competition.

The Polish Army Stadium was a white-hot cauldron of noise and flare smoke. If the atmosphere was intimidating, the Lilywhites didn’t show it. They began the brighter of the two sides and Horgan and Benson managing to find inroads through the white home shirts. But Warsaw soon composed themselves and dominated possession until Dundalk produced a goal worthy of any Champions League highlight reel.

Suddenly, the mountain was half-way scaled.

The game was absolutely turned on its head on the cusp of 20 minutes when Dundalk took the lead. Sean Gannon played a quick one two from a throw and played a clever ball to the far side of the box which McMillian headed down for Benson to volley home. He caught it on his, supposedly, weaker right foot and his sublime finish gave ‘keeper Arkadiusz Malarz no chance.

Warsaw nearly replied in perfect fashion straight after the restart. Adam Hlousek’s viscious effort from outside the box looked set to sail into the top of the net but Gary Rogers produced a top-drawer save to preserve Dundalk’s lead.

The possession stats for the first half read only marginally in Warsaw’s favour but it didn’t feel particularly even following the goal. Stephen Kenny’s charges failed to eke out any effort of substance in the second quarter and Warsaw closed out the half well on top. The Lilywhites must have been looking at the clock for the sanctuary of the dressing room.

But to the Irish champion’s credit, they did a fine job of restricting Legia to shots from distance which never really panicked their custodian. At the half time whistle, frustration was evident in the cacophony of jeers and boos from the stands.

It took Dundalk a good fifteen minutes to get going in the second half. They were far from feeding on crumbs of possession, but they would certainly have to show real hunger to make the most of their chances when they arrived.

On the back of a good spell after the hour mark, the goalscorer, Robbie Benson, almost sent the Lilywhites into dreamland when he attempted an audacious overhead kick from another McMillian knock-down. He connected well but it lacked accuracy. It did cause ripples of worry as Dundalk proceeded to grab a hold of the game.

When Hlousek was shown a second yellow on 67 minutes, it seemed as if the stars were aligning for Dundalk. But rather than proceeding to dominate the game and impose themselves, the pendulum swung the other way. The introduction of the tricky Brazilian, Guilherme, no doubt had something to do with this.

Warsaw actually enjoyed their best spell of the game following the red card and tested the Dundalk defence more following Hlousek’s dismissal than any other time over the ninety minutes: It was nervy stuff indeed when Michal Kucharczyk sauntered into the Dundalk box and could have went down following a clumsy challenge from Paddy Barrett, but instead tried to pick his pass across the six yard box which was scrambled clear.

Daryl Horgan, quiet by his usual standards in the first half, came into the game more in the second. It was his hazy run and pass that unpicked the Warsaw defence to allow McEleney to get his shot away inside the box. The Derryman will kick himself for not making better use of the opportunity as his effort meekly rolled at the ‘keeper in what was Dundalk’s most clear cut chance of the game.

With the clock ticking down, Dundalk knew they had to go for it to bring the game to extra-time. Winger Darren Meenan replaced the defensive stalwart, Chris Shields on the 83^rd minute. And O’Connor’s provided fresh legs in place of McEleney with 60 seconds of normal time remaining.

Perhaps it was too late to press home the numeric advantage? But the balance in a European game between attack and defence can be a fine one and there is a peril to attacking with such a need for a goal.

As Dundalk pressed forward, they were increasingly vulnerable on the counter attack. Kucharczyk was only uncut toenails away from converting a Thibault Moulin cross in the dying embers of the game -but he would get his moment in extra time.

A moment of hesitation in possession from Barrett, allowed Legia to rob him of the ball him and release Kucharczyk through on goal with a long ball. He converted past Rogers to raise the roof on the arena and secure the Polish side’s passage to the UCL Group Stages. Relief and disappointment were palpable in equal measure.

The Irish champions went toe-to-toe with Warsaw and were on a par with them over the two legs. Taking the 90 minutes of either match, the game was 1-1. The safety net of the Europa Group Stages is nothing to be scoffed at and based on their showing in Europe this season, they look more than capable of holding their own in that competition.

Legia Warsaw: Arkadiusz Malarz, Adam Hlouseh, Lucasz Broz, Igor Lewczuk, Michal Pazdan, Steeven Langil ( Guilherme 65), Michal Kucharczyk, Romasz Jodlowiec, Thibault Moulin (Aleksandar Prijovic 93), Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, Nemanja Nikolic ( Bartosz Bereszynski 71).

Substitutes not used: Michael Kopcznski, Kasper Hamalainen,, Mihail Alekandar.

Booked: Odjidja-Ofoe 7, Hlouseh 57, Kucharczk 93.

Sent Off: Hlouseh 67.

Dundalk: Gary Rogers, Sean Gannon, Paddy Barrett, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey, Ronan Finn, Chris Shields (Darren Meenan 83), Robbie Benson, Daryl Horgan, Patrick McEleney Michael O’ Connor 89), David McMillian.

Substitutes not used: Gabriel Sava, Shane Grimes, Georgie Poynton, John Mountney, Brian Gartland.

Booked:: Benson 73, Barrett 89.

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway).

Attendance: 29,066.

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Michal Kucharczyk (Legia Warsaw).