Pedigree:
LEGIA ARE THE best-known Polish club side owing to their relatively successful European history.
During the golden age for football in the country, Legia excelled in the European Cup and reached the semi-finals in 1970 and the quarter-finals the following year. At the time, the team had a glittering array of talent that included the magnificent Kazimierz Deyna, a gifted attacking midfielder who was courted by every major European side but prevented from leaving his homeland due to its communist regime.
In goal, Legia could count on Jan Tomaszewski, infamously branded ‘a clown’ by Brian Clough prior to his remarkable display in a World Cup qualifier against England at Wembley.
Domestically though, they haven’t quite dominated, winning 11 league titles in 60 years. Still, their success in the Polish Cup (18-time winners, which is a record) has ensured a constant European presence.
In 1991, they made it to the semi-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup but suffered defeat to eventual winners Manchester United.
In 2012, they reached the Round of 32 in the Europa League, finishing second in a group that included PSV Eindhoven, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Rapid Bucharest. But a narrow 3-2 aggregate loss to Sporting Lisbon ensured their exit from the competition.
In 2015, Legia did something similar, losing just one group-stage game (they faced Trabzonspor, Lokoren and Metalist Kharkiv) before being brushed aside by Ajax in the knockout stages.
Champions League form:
They haven’t reached the group stages of the competition since 1996 (they picked up four points from Premier League champions Blackburn), when they made it through to the quarter-finals before a heavy second-leg loss to Panathinaikos put paid to their hopes.
In 2014, they were drawn against St. Pat’s in the second qualifying round and thumped them 6-1 on aggregate. They memorably cut through Celtic too and looked to have assured themselves of a group-stage place. But, they were later found to have fielded an illegible player and the result was forfeited, allowing Celtic to move on.
In 2013, they narrowly missed out on a group-stage place after an away goals loss to Steaua.
This time around, Legia have so far navigated past Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Slovakian side AS Trencin.
Current domestic form:
The Polish season is already underway and Legia are still unbeaten after three games. Even still, it’s been a slow start for the champions.
In their opener away to Wisla Plock, they were 2-0 down after just 10 minutes and had to dig deep to come back and win 3-2.
They’re subsequent two games, meanwhile, have seen them pick up successive draws – both at home.
Key players:
Nemanja Nikolic only joined Legia from Hungarian side Videoton last year but his debut campaign for his new club couldn’t have gone any better.
He hit 28 goals in 37 games and was central to Legia finishing the season as champions.
He was also part of the Hungary squad for Euro 2016 and started in the 1-1 group-stage draw with Iceland.
There have been rumours of a potential move to Porto and if Dundalk are to progress, they’ll need to ensure his role in both games is minimal.
Defender Michal Pazdan is a Polish international and a proper cult hero. Irish fans may remember him for an x-rated challenge on Shane Long at the Aviva Stadium during Euro qualifying and another, studs-up reducer on Jon Walters in the return fixture.
A solid, dogged and aggressive centre-half, David McMillan will have his work cut out trying to get anything from him.
Manager:
44-year-old Besnik Hasi is in his first season as Legia boss. Born in Kosovo, he represented Albania 47 times during a playing career that saw him based almost exclusively in Belgium.
He joined Genk in 1994 and stayed for six seasons before moving to Anderlecht, where he made over 100 league appearances. He finished out his career at Lokoren and Club Brugge before beginning his coaching career as an assistant at Anderlecht.
He took over as the club’s manager in 2014 with just a few months left in the season and guided the club to the league title.
He was sacked at the end of last season with Anderlecht having failed to win the title for a second successive time, finishing seven points behind Club Brugge.
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