The second match in a row was won by Warta Poznań’s players, who defeated Stal Mielec again this season. This time it was 5:2 at the end of the 29th round of the PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa. The hero of Monday evening at the Respect Energy Stadium in Grodzisk Wlkp. was Adam Zrelak, the author of three goals for the “Greens”!
It was another match of the all-purpose type and another one in which coach Dawid Szulczek’s team showed character. In the first half he took the lead twice, but at the break he went to the locker room only with a draw. He won the match thanks to his brilliant performance in the second half.
It started with a great move by Mohamed Megzhrani, who ran into the penalty area and passed the ball to Konrad Matuszewski so much that he only had to use his foot to send the ball into the net. Stal, which attacked less frequently than the Greens, equalized after 10 minutes. In the confusion, Jędrzej Grobelny did not keep the ball sent from the left wing in his hands and Alvis Jaunzems put it into the net.
Then we had the beginning of the Adam Zrelak festival. The Slovak striker regained the lead for Warta with a great shot in the 38th minute. Mateusz Kochalski, standing between the posts, had no chance because the ball bounced off the inside of the post before it landed in the net.
Just before the half-time whistle, the Mielce team equalized again, and Ilya Szkurin, the most effective player in their ranks this season, scored a goal from a few meters.
The second half, however, belonged only to the Poznań team, and its beginning was a real storm. A few dozen seconds after the game was resumed, Zrelak completed a double, mercilessly taking advantage of the error of the Stal Mielec goalkeeper, and in the 49th minute, Mohamed Mezghrani, who was playing brilliantly in the match, crossed the ball from a free kick to Dawid Szymonowicz and the stopper perfectly hit the ball with his head, hitting the net right next to the post.
4:2 and Warta fans could breathe a little. However, there was complete peace in the 71st minute, when Tomas Prikryl made a perfect pass to Adam Zrelak in a clean position, and the Warta striker ran into the penalty area and with a strong shot made the score 5:2, scoring his third goal of the evening.
For the first time in the 2023/2024 season, the “Greens” won the second match in a row in the PKO Bank Ekstraklasa and only for the second time after returning to the elite, they scored five goals in one match. Previously, it happened in the spring round of the previous edition, when also in Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Warta defeated Korona Kielce 5:1.
WARTA POZNAŃ – STAL MIELEC 5:2 (2:2)
Goals: 1:0 Konrad Matuszewski (7th minute), 1:1 Alvis Jaunzems (17th), 2:1 Adam Zrelak (38th), 2:2 Ilja Szkurin (45th +1), 3:2 Adam Zrelak (46th) .), 4:2 Dawid Szymonowicz (49th), 5:2 Adam Zrelak (71st)
Warta Poznań: Jędrzej Grobelny – Jakub Bartkowski, Dawid Szymonowicz, Bogdan Tiru – Konrad Matuszewski (90th Filip Borowski), Mateusz Kupczak, Niilo Maenpaa (90th Jakub Paszkowski), Mohamed Mezghrani – Miguel Luis (75th Stefan Savić), Kajetan Szmyt (62nd). Tomas Prikryl) – Adam Zrelak (75. Maciej Żurawski).
He refereed Marcin Szczerbowicz from Olsztyn
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