Legia share spoils with Club Brugge
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Article summary
Legia 1-1 Club Brugge
Michał Kucharczyk levelled after Davy De Fauw put the visitors in front, but a draw was not much use for the bottom two in Group D.
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- Davy De Fauw scores Club Brugge's opener
- Michał Kucharczyk equalises with close-range finish
- First Group D point for each side; ends four-game European losing streak for visitors
- Stanislav Cherchesov's first European match since replacing Henning Berg as Legia coach
- Teams meet again at the Jan Breydelstadion on 5 November
Stanislav Cherchesov's half-time changes helped Legia Warszawa hold Club Brugge in UEFA Europa League Group D, but both sides could have done with more than a point.
Having won their only two previous home games against Belgian opponents without conceding, Legia's spell was broken on 39 minutes as defender Davy De Fauw got the visitors' opener, finishing from close range after goalkeeper Dušan Kuciak had saved a Brandon Mechele shot.
That goal capped an underwhelming first-half performance for Legia in their first European outing following the dismissal of coach Henning Berg. However, new boss Cherchesov made decent running repairs at the break, Ondrej Duda and Ivan Tričkovski coming on for Guilherme and Dominik Furman.
Duda presented MichałKucharczyk with a decent chance within two minutes of the restart, and while the 24-year-old missed the target, he soon made amends, hitting the target from four metres after Tričkovski forwarded on a Tomasz Jodłowiec delivery from the right.
Legia had the run of proceedings for a while as Michel Preud'homme's men dipped, but Michał Pazdan and Tričkovski passed up opportunities to earn them three points. Both teams are five points adrift of second-placed Midtjylland, despite the Danish champions' 4-1 loss at home to Napoli.
Cherchesov changes key
The former Spartak Moskva goalkeeper did not much like what he saw in the first half, and his interval switches – Duda for Guilherme, Tričkovski for Furman – conjured a point for Legia.
Nikolić not scoring
Hungary striker Nemanja Nikolić is the man of the moment in the Ekstraklasa with 15 goals in 12 games, but has yet to translate that sparkling form into Europe – which may explain why Legia have taken only one point from three Group D matchdays.