LEGIA WARSAW ARE hoping Ireland’s Polish contingent come out in their numbers for the Champions League play-off in Dublin.
They take on Dundalk in the first leg on Wednesday and defender Mikel Pazdan, who lined out for Poland at the Euro 2016 this summer, spoke briefly on Tuesday about people he knew leaving his homeland to start a new life on these shores.
“When I was younger, all my friends wanted to come to Ireland to work,” the centre-back said. “So I hope that they are all here and they attend tomorrow’s game.”
Manager Besnik Hasi added: ”I hope that a lot of Polish people come, because I hear that the national coach of Ireland is calling on fans to fill the stadium.
“I heard that there are a lot of colonies of Polish people living here. If you are Polish, you should come to support a Polish team so hopefully there will be many at the game.”
The former Anderlecht boss admits that he was satisfied with being paired with the Lilywhites, but added that the BATE Borisov result caught his attention.
“The moment we drew Dundalk, we were happy,” he said. “I think Dundalk were also happy with the draw, because we were the smallest team on the other side.
If a team has beaten BATE here 3-0, then they gain my respect.
“All of Ireland is behind them, so it is dangerous to think we are better than them. We need to show that on the pitch tomorrow.
“We are prepared and in the last two games we showed we are thinking only about this game.”
Legia have been beaten in their previous two matches — a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Gornik Leczna followed on from a 3-2 loss to second division Gornik Zabrze in the cup.
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