Milik treble delights Poland in Malta

Arkadiusz Milik struck a hat-trick as Poland moved top of UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying Group 7.

Milik scored twice before the break and again just past the hour, by which point Michał Chrapek and Bartłomiej Pawłowski had added to Poland's lead. Stephen Pisani converted a late penalty for Raymond Farrugia's side, their first goal in the group, but it was Poland's day as they moved two points ahead of Turkey, who have a game in hand.

FC Augsburg forward Milik broke the deadlock on 28 minutes after a sramble from Piotr Zieliński's corner. Just before the interval, Wojciech Golla worked his way down the right before releasing a perfect pass for the onrushing Milik to score his second.

Chrapek made it three on 55 minutes, set up by Bartosz Bereszyński, and Pawłowski had the fourth on the hour. Milik's treble was complete in the 65th minute after good work from Chrapek, though Malta at least had an added-time consolation; Bereszyński bringing down Zach Muscat in the box and Pisani scoring from the spot.

Poland coach Marcin Dorna, whose team end their year with their penultimate group fixture against Greece in Krakow on Tuesday, said: "My plans were that, as we knew Malta could be dangerous on home soil, we decided to push and put pressure on the home side immediately and the result shows that this worked well. The physical side of my players showed quite well in the second half. We kept on pushing despite the scoreline and I am pleased with the performance of my team."