In the 1st leg of the 4th and final UEFA Europa League qualifying round, Poland's Lech Poznań got smashed 1-5 at home by Belgium's KRC Genk on Thursday. The fact that the Polish team was decimated by injuries might be a bit of an excuse, although to find a worse home beating of Lech one would have to rewind to... 1956 - so this result won't be easily forgotten by the fans.
Things looked much better, though, for Polish clubs competing one level down, in the UEFA Conference League - the third and lowest tier of continental club football. Polish Cup winner Legia Warszawa traveled to Scotland's Edinburgh to win 2-1 against the local Hibernian, who scored their sole goal in the dying minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, last season's Polish top tier Ekstraklasa runners-up, Raków Częstochowa, hosted Bulgaria's Arda Kyrdżali - and managed to snatch a 1-0 win, putting the Poles in a privileged situation before the rematch.
Last but not least - Poland's 3rd team of the previous season, Jagiellonia Białystok, scored three and conceded none against the visitors from Albania's Dinamo City Tirana, which puts the Polish team in quite a comfortable position before leg two.
Polish clubs already made history this season, as never before the country had four teams reaching the European qualifiers round 4. Things can go from good to better next week, though. That is because Lech Poznań already secured a spot in the UEFA Conference League, so even if it's knocked out a tier up - Poland can still end up with four clubs making it to the league stages of the European competitions!
Such a development would be quite a feat, as Poland's 21st century record so far is two teams making it through the qualifiers the same season. And with the favourable results from last Thursday's games - setting a new one certainly seems within the realm of possibility.
Polish clubs' second leg games of the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League final qualifying round will be played on Thursday, August 28th.
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Source: 90minut.pl, Weszlo.com