Legia Warszawa players won at home against Drita Gnjilane 2-0 (0-0) in the fourth round of the Conference League qualifying round. The rematch will take place next week in Kosovo.
In the previous rounds, Legia eliminated Welsh side Caernarfon Town and Danish side Broendby Copenhagen. The final obstacle on their path to the Conference League was Drita, who had already defeated Iceland’s Breidablik Kopavogur and Latvia’s Auda Riga.
Legia and Drita have only met once so far. In September 2020, the then Polish champions won the third round of qualifying for the Europa League 2-0 after goals from Paweł Wszołek and Tomas Pekhart. Both players are still in the “Militar” squad.
In the 13th minute, Faton Maloku saved Bartosz Kapustka’s shot from outside the penalty area. After a while, the Drita goalkeeper also saved a long-range shot by Rafał Augustyniak. The guests played with a low defense and it was difficult to enter the penalty area.
In the 28th minute, Migouel Alfarela received a through ball and was in a free position, but was brought down by Hasan Gomda outside the box. Initially, the referee showed the defender a yellow card, however After consulting the VAR, he changed his decision and received a red card.
Artur Jędrzejczyk crossed for Augustyniak, who nearly beat the goalkeeper with a header. Later, in a similar situation, Wszołek passed to Blaz Kramer, but the ball was caught by Maloku after a header.
Drita’s players created the first opportunity in the 41st minute from a free kick, but their close-range shot was blocked at the last moment by Legia defender Sergio Barcia.
At the start of the second half, Luquinhas came close to scoring a goal. After the Brazilian’s shot, the ball headed towards the goal, but was blocked by defender Juan Camilo Mesa. The home team scored the goal in the 56th minute, when Wszołek crossed from the right to Kramer, who headed the ball into the goal window. It was the Slovenian’s fifth goal this season.
Ruben Vinagre then crossed from the left into the penalty area, but his pass was too strong for Kramer and Wszołek to reach the ball. Vinagre then had two shots from outside the area, but Maloku made a good save.
Pekhart found himself in a good position, but his shot went over the crossbar. Better efficiency In the 83rd minute, Marc Gual showed his skills by scoring without receiving a pass from Ryoya Morishita and increasing the score to 2-0.
Pekhart later passed back to Kapustka, who fired a powerful shot but it hit the post.
Legia took a two-goal lead ahead of the rematch on a hot pitch in Pristina and moved closer to promotion to the Conference League.
Goal: 1-0 Blaz Kramer (56), 2-0 Marc Gual (83).
Yellow card – Légia: Artur Jędrzejczyk, Ruben Vinagre, Tomas Pekhart. Drita: Albert Dabiqaj, Arb Manaj.
Red card – Drita: Hasan Gomda (30).
Judge: Chris Kavanagh (England). Attendance: 19,316.
Legia Warsaw: Kacper Tobiasz – Rafał Augustyniak, Artur Jędrzejczyk (63. Radovan Pankov), Sergio Barcia – Paweł Wszołek (80. Kacper Chodyna), Bartosz Kapustka, Claude Gonçalves, Luquinhas (63. Marc Gual), Ruben Vinagre – Migouel Alfarela (73. Ryoya Morishita), Blaz Kramer (73. Tomas Pekhart).
Drita Gnjilane: Faton Maloku – Egzon Beltulai, Juan Camilo Mesa, Hasan Gomda, Raddy Ovouka – Besnik Krasniqi, Kastriot Selmani (66. Veton Tusha), Rron Broja, Albert Dabiqaj (76. Ilir Mustafa), Alamir Ajzeraj – Blerim Krasniqi (76. Arb Manaj ).
