Legia Warsaw and Slavia Prague played out a brilliant 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Europa League playoff round tie.
Each time that Legia Warsaw took the lead, Slavia Prague struck back to equalise. Legia Warsaw’s Mahir Emreli scored in the 20th minute but Slavia Prague’s Alexander Bah struck back 13 minutes later.
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👋 @Yuri_oribeiro 📸 @PartykaJanusz pic.twitter.com/1ddBMOfUTC
Again, the Polish club in front thanks to a goal from Josip Juranovic on 37 minutes. Slavia Prague scored once more through Lukas Masopust on the stroke of halftime. The second leg is nicely poised and with no away goals rule, anything could happen on Thursday night.
Legia Warsaw did not play domestically at the weekend and should be fresh for the second leg against Slavia Prague. Manager Czeslaw Michniewicz will hope the side can finish off Slavia Prague at home in front of their fans.
Slavia Prague did play at the weekend, winning 4-0 against Banik Ostrava. Jindrich Trpisovsky’s team are in good form having won five of seven matches in all competitions this season.
The Czech team has scored goals for fun with 13 goals for and five against. Four games have finished in clean sheets for Slavia Prague.
Legia Warsaw have played 10 games in all competitions with a record of 6W-2D-2L. They have scored 15 goals but have been guilty of conceding too many. Ten times this season Legia Warsaw have allowed goals to opponents.
Both managers are likely to keep their teams the same as in the first leg. Legia Warsaw should have Lindsay Rose, Mateusz Wieteska and Maik Nawrocki playing in defence once more. Emreli scored in the first leg and should lead the line.
Goalkeeper Artur Boruc, who spent time in Italy and England, returned to Legia Warsaw last season. His experience in goal could be the difference between the Polish side winning and losing.
Trpisovsky is likely to field Slavia Prague’s established group of players for the second leg. The manager has attacking options to play against Legia Warsaw. Stanislav Tecl should lead the line.
Trpisovsky has the option of selecting Ubong Ekpai, Ondrej Lingr, Ivan Schranz, Lukas Masopus, Nicolae Stanciu and Abdallah Sima to play in support of the lone striker.
Thursday’s match in Poland should be another thriller, just like the first leg. However, unlike the first leg, this week’s game should finish as a cagey draw with under 2.5 goals scored.