Jagiellonia Białystok with its second win in the Conference League. In the first home match of LK in history, the Polish champion tried his fans’ patience, but ultimately won 2-0 against the Moldovan Petrocub. The hero was Afimico Pululu, who scored a double. Interestingly, just like in the first round – now he also scored one of the goals with a back-to-back shot.
Before the match
A few hours before the match, the information broke that the outgoing president of Jagiellonia Białystok, Wojciech Pertkiewicz, had been replaced by Ziemowit Deptuła. The former president of Lechia Gdańsk will be the vice-president of the Polish champion until the end of 2024, and on January 1, 2025, he will take over as president.
On October 23, 2024, the Supervisory Board of Jagiellonia Białystok SSA adopted a resolution appointing @ZDeptula for the position of Vice-President of the Management Board. As of January 1, 2025, he will replace the outgoing President of the Management Board @PertkiewiczW.
— Jagiellonia Białystok (@Jagiellonia1920) October 24, 2024
Since the 2022/2023 season, FC Copenhagen at Parken has lost only to Bayern Munich, Manchester City and… Jagiellonia Białystok in European cups. A great start in the Conference League is an additional incentive for the “Pride of Podlasie”, which entered the clash with the Moldovan rival as the third team of the current Ekstraklasa season.
Petroclub Hîncești to absolutna sensacja season 2023/2024. The team, founded in 1994, achieved the double, winning the championship and the Moldavian Cup. The team from Hîncești showed that the decline of Sheriff Tiraspol is possible, with whom they recently drew in the league. Mihai Sandu, PR manager at FC Petrocub, in an interview with “sport.tvp.pl” admitted that the club’s budget is one million euros and the players earn about EUR 2,000 with bonuses. This proves a deep financial disproportion between the champions of Moldova and Poland. In their debut in the Conference League, Petrocub lost 1-4 at home to the Cypriot Paphos FC.
Ineffective Jagiellonia
Afimico Pululu wasted a great opportunity in the 9th minute of the match. The Angolan, who was close to breaking the offside line, failed to beat the visiting goalkeeper with a lob shot. A dozen or so minutes later, Darko Czurlinow made a good shot from about 14 meters, but he moved the ball over the goal.
In the 37th minute, Taras Romanczuk shot quite dangerously from distance. His shot was on target, but Silviu Șmalenea caught the ball without much difficulty. Two minutes later, quite luckily, Jesus Imaz found himself in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Perhaps out of some randomness, instead of scoring a goal, the Spaniard hit the ball past the Petrocub post. At the end of the first half, “Jaga” should take the lead. The Spaniard again had no defender in front of him. This time he shot straight at Smalenea. Imaz is not used to wasting such situations…
IT WAS CLOSE AGAIN 🤏🏼
Until the break ⌛
Jagiellonia Białystok – Petrocub Hincesti 0️⃣:0️⃣📺 Polsat Sport 1
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📲 Polsat Box Go#UECL #THECHARGE I @Jagiellonia1920 pic.twitter.com/EyU3rtMVtk— Polsat Sport (@polsatsport) October 24, 2024
Jagiellonia Białystok dominated during the first half. The statistics are proof of this. In the first 45 minutes, the team from Podlasie fired 11 shots, including three on target. The guests, who played decently with the ball, were unable to attack effectively. Their xG must have been 0.00 because they never hit Sławomir Abramowicz’s goal. However, they had a result that fully satisfied them. Despite poor and slow play, Jagiellonia still had a few chances.
Super Pululu worth winning
Adrian Siemieniec’s team started the first minutes after the break with a bang. High pressing gave a chance to create goal-scoring actions, although few of them resulted in a real threat to the opponent’s goal. Jagiellonia fans had to wait until the 69th minute for the score to open. Pululu finished the attack from the wing from a few meters. It was an impressive hit, because the Polish team’s sniper scored from the back of the ball. He did a very similar thing in the first match against FC Copenhagen.
Another goal scored with a heel by Afimico Pululu 🔥😍
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📲 Polsat Box Go#UECL #THECHARGE I @Jagiellonia1920 pic.twitter.com/GvGxN2fugj— Polsat Sport (@polsatsport) October 24, 2024
The Angolan decided not to end his achievements in the match there. Four minutes later, he fired a great shot from a dozen or so meters. A hard shot was converted into a goal. The Angolan scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season in all competitions in this match. After the break, “Jaga” was definitely more effective. She took fewer shots, but the ball ended up in the net. The statistics from the second half were only three shots on target compared to six in total, so after scoring a goal to make it 2-0, the Polish champion did not push the pace, but kept an eye on the result.
🔝🔝🔝
Third goal 𝐀𝐟𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐨 𝐏𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐥𝐮 in the Conference League ⚽
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📲 Polsat Box Go#UECL #THECHARGE I @Jagiellonia1920 pic.twitter.com/NyAvm4T6hG— Polsat Sport (@polsatsport) October 24, 2024
The match was under absolute control of Jagiellonia. Apart from Smalenea, none of the visiting players showed any signs of success during the match. Unlike Pululu, who together with Cercle Brugge’s Kevin Denkey are the top scorers in the Conference League with three goals to their name. Although the Polish champion put in a bit of effort and was unable to beat the visiting goalkeeper for a long time, the most important thing is that in the end they managed to get three points and live up to their role as the favorite.
Fot. screen Polsat Sport
