ALTHOUGH THEY REMAIN strong favourites to advance at Cork City’s expense, Legia Warsaw have travelled to Leeside without several high-profile players.
The first leg of their Champions League first round qualifier takes place at Turner’s Cross tomorrow evening (7.45pm), with the return leg scheduled for the 31,000-capacity Polish Army Stadium in Warsaw seven days later (Tuesday, 17 July, 8pm Irish time).
The Polish champions arrived in Cork today with a 19-man panel of players, but manager Dean Klafuric certainly hasn’t got a full-strength squad at his disposal for their meeting with the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title-holders.
Having been part of Poland’s squad at the World Cup, defensive duo Michal Pazdan and Artur Jędrzejczyk have yet to return to Legia following their country’s exit at the group stages in Russia.
Pazdan started in Poland’s defeats to Senegal and Colombia, while Jędrzejczyk came in for the win over Japan. Both players are due to report back for club duty on Monday, the day before Legia host Cork City in the second leg of their tie.
Among the other Legia players who haven’t been deemed fit enough for tomorrow night’s game are Croatian international midfielder Domagoj Antolic, captain Miroslav Radovic, last season’s top goalscorer Jarosław Niezgoda and veteran striker Eduardo da Silva.
Arsenal supporters may remember Eduardo from his three-year spell with the Premier League club, which was blighted by a horrific leg break he suffered in a game against Birmingham City in 2008. Now 35, the former Croatian international had spells with Shakhtar Donetsk, Flamengo and Atlético Paranaense before joining Legia Warsaw last January.
Also missing for the Poles in their first leg against Cork City will be Spanish striker Carlitos. The 28-year-old, who was the leading goalscorer in the Polish top flight last season, signed for Legia from Wisla Krakow last week, but he has been left out for the trip to Turner’s Cross.
In spite of such a long list of absentees, Legia have been able to travel with nine senior internationals in their ranks — totalling 177 caps — including midfielders Krzysztof Mączyński and Kasper Hamalainen. Mączyński has featured 31 times for Poland — and scored in their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign — while Hamalainen has played 60 games for Finland.
This is the third time in the past five seasons that Legia Warsaw have been drawn against the Irish champions in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League. They were 6-1 aggregate winners against St Patrick’s Athletic in 2014 and defeated Dundalk 3-1 over two legs in 2016.
However, they have undergone significant changes in the meantime. Of the squad that has made the journey to Cork, only three members — Arkadiusz Malarz, Adam Hlousek and Michał Kucharczyk — played against the Lilywhites two years ago.
Legia Warsaw squad to play Cork City (first leg): Radosław Cierzniak, Radosław Majecki, Arkadiusz Malarz, Inaki Astiz, Adam Hlousek, William Remy, Mateusz Wieteska, Mateusz Żyro, Cafu, Kasper Hamalainen, Michał Kucharczyk, Krzysztof Mączyński, Konrad Michalak, Dominik Nagy, Chris Philipps, Sebastian Szymański, Marko Vesović, Jose Kante, Sandro Kulenović.
