EL: Legia Warsaw Down Metalist to Maintain Perfect Start



KYIV, Ukraine. October 22 (UEFA) – Ondrej Duda’s first-half effort earned the Group L leaders their third straight 1-0 victory after both teams also missed a penalty in Ukraine.

Final Score: FC Metalist Kharkiv 0:1 Legia Warsaw

Duda’s first-half strike in Kyiv proved enough to see off FC Metalist Kharkiv as Legia Warsaw extended their perfect Group L record with a third consecutive 1:0 win.

The hosts, who had not conceded in two previous meetings with Polish opponents, fell behind after 28 minutes to a wonderful goal from the Slovak midfielder as Henning Berg’s team made the perfect start. Duda evaded two challenges before finishing in style after collecting a pass from Michał Kucharczyk.

Legia, who had already won twice as many matches as they did in last season’s UEFA Europa League group stage prior to kick-off, had the first opportunity through Orlando Sá but the forward fired wide in the 17th minute.

Seven minutes later, the Ukrainian side responded with a shot from distance from Oleg Krasnopyorov. Jajá also saw his left-footed effort blocked inside the box as Metalist threatened to take the lead but it would be the the visitors – and Duda – that made the breakthrough moments later.

Sá missed the chance to double the advantage six minutes from the interval, failing to connect with a pull-back from Jakub Kosecki. The Legia attacker also blazed across the face of goal as the Ekstraklasa champions dominated the early exchanges of the second half.

Visiting captain Ivica Vrdoljak wasted the invitation to seal victory on 52 minutes, his spot kick being superbly saved by Olexandr Goryainov after Ayila Yussuf handled in the area. Igor Rakhaiev’s team then squandered their opportunity to level from the spot when Jajá’s tame penalty was kept out by Dušan Kuciak. Kosecki was also off target in added time when clean through but Legia were able to hold on for another narrow win.

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Metalist Kharkiv – Legia Warsaw 0:1 (0:1)
Goal: Duda 28′

Yellow carded: Torres, Bołbat, Pshenychnykh, Edmar – Duda
Referee: Gediminas Mażeika (Lithuania)

Metalist: Olexandr Goryainov – Cristian Villagra, Marco Torsiglieri, Ayila Yussuf (76. Andriy Berezovchuk), Serhiy Pshenychnykh (62. Denys Kulakov) – Edmar, Juan Manuel Torres, Oleg Krasnopyorov (57. Vasyl Kobin), Jaja – Volodymyr Homenyuk, Serhiy Bolbat

Legia: Dusan Kuciak – Łukasz Broź, Jakub Rzeźniczak, Inaki Astiz, Guilherme – Jakub Kosecki, Tomasz Jodłowiec, Ivica Vrdoljak, Michał Kucharczyk, Ondrej Duda – Orlando Sa (81. Marek Saganowski)

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