Wisła Krakow takes the lead
Wisła Krakow have taken the lead in the Ekstraklasa. Goals by captain Arkadiusz Głowacki, Paweł Brożek and Marcelo guaranteed a solid 3-0 home win against GKS Bełchatów. The “White Stars” were helped by their rivals Cracovia, who kept Legia to a goalless draw in Warsaw.
Just cruising
The gap between Wisła, Legia and Lech and the rest of the pack of Ekstraklasa teams is huge. Wisła was played unthreatened and felt no need to play as aggressively as they did against Zagłębie Lubin one week prior. Wisła cruised against GKS and waited for their chance. Tomasz Wróbel of GKS was sent off for hand ball in the 27th minute and Wisła captain Arkadiusz Głowacki took the penalty convincingly: 1-0. Later, Paweł Brożek served himself and his team by finally scoring his first official goal of the season. Wojciech Łobodzinski sprinted down the right flank, late in the second half. He crossed the ball that was conversed into a goal by Wisła defender Marcelo, settling an easy victory for Wisła Kraków.
Surprising loss for Lech
And to makes things even better for the defending champions, Lech Poznań and Lechia Gdańsk both surprisingly lost their home games. Lechia Gdańsk were defeated by Odra Wodzisław (0-2) while Lech Poznań lost to Polonia due to same fatal errors late in the game. Hernan Renfigo put the home side in front, but Polonia equalized before halftime. Then the visitors took the initiative, but Sławomir Peszko scored 2-2, raising his tally to three goals in two appearances for Lech. But 10 minutes after his goal he received a red card and Lech were down to 10 men.
Reduced in numbers and without the injured Robert Lewandowski, the game seemed destined to end in a draw, which would have been a bad result for Lech and an excellent one for Polonia in the first place. But Polonia, with one man up, raised the pressure and it was Jarosław Lato who escaped the offside trap and served Milan Nikolić, who scored 3-2 for Polonia three minutes before the final whistle. In a vicious attempt to equalize, the Polonians managed to counterattack once more and knocked down the final score, with Filip Ivanovski scoring the 4-2.
Jagiellonia Białystok
Of course, the battle for the championship is interesting. Maybe just as exciting is the battle against relegation. And at the moment, Jagiellonia Białystok is at the bottom. The club started the season with a 10-point penalty. After three rounds, the northeastern team has managed to reduce their deficit to minus three. In fact, if it wasn’t for the reduction, the Jagiellonians would have been third on the table. Last weekend, visitors Korona Kielce were no match and lost 2-0 to the penalized team. The only team that has not managed to score a single point so far is Zagłębie Lubin.
Ekstraklasa – standings after three rounds
1. Wisła Kraków 3- 9 (+ 8) to second round qualifications Champions League
2. Legia Warszawa 3- 7 (+ 5) to second round qualifications Europa League
3. Lech Poznań 3- 6 (+ 5) to first round qualifications Europa League
4. Lechia Gdańsk 3- 6 (+ 3)
5. Sląsk Wrocław 3- 6 (+ 2)
6. Polonia Bytom 3- 6 (+ 1)
7. Ruch Chorzów 3- 6 (+ 1)
8. Polonia Warszawa 3- 6 (- 1)
9. Odra Wodzisław 3- 3 ( 0 )
10. Piast Gliwice 3- 3 (- 1)
11. Korona Kielce 3- 3 (- 3)
12. GKS Bełchatów 3- 1 (- 4)
13. KS Cracovia 3- 1 (- 6)
14. Arka Gdynia 3- 0 (- 3)
15. Zagłębie Lubin 3- 0 (- 10) relegates to 1. Liga
16. Jagiellonia Białystok 3- -3* (+ 3) relegates to 1. Liga