Robert Lewandowski limped out of Poland’s final warm-up game before Euro 2024, which turned into a nightmare for coach Michal Probierz.
The 35-year-old Barcelona front-man, who scored 19 La Liga goals and 26 in total this season, was making his 150th appearance for his country and laid on the opening goal as Poland faced fellow qualifiers Turkey in Warsaw.
Poland’s record-scorer and talisman Robert Lewandowski was forced off with an injury just days before their Euro 2024 campaign 😟🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/kG0exPKM9U
— OneFootball (@OneFootball) June 10, 2024
However the host’s night began to turn as Karol Swiderski appeared to hurt his ankle as he landed while celebrating the 12th-minute opening goal and was subbed minutes after, later being spotted in a protective boot.
Swiderski had only been called up as a replacement for Juventus forward Arkadiusz Milik – Lewandowski’s expected strike partner – who suffered a serious knee injury in last week’s friendly against Ukraine.
Lewandowski then followed Swiderski to the treatment room just after the half-hour after seemingly suffering a muscular injury to his right leg.
Probierz cut a gloomy figure on the Poland bench but would still have time to name a replacement for his 26-man squad if either of the injuries are serious enough to rule them out of the tournament.
On the field things did improve for the hosts as Roma’s Nicola Zalewski netted a fine stoppage-time winner, collecting the ball on the left and weaving his way into the area to fire home his first international goal after Baris Yilmaz looked to have earned a draw for Turkey 13 minutes from time when his low shot wrong-footed the keeper.
Poland’s Group D campaign begins against the Netherlands in Hamburg on Sunday (2pm BST), with Austria and France also in the pool.
Frenkie de Jong won’t participate at EURO 2024. 😔
We are with you, Frenkie. 🧡#NothingLikeOranje pic.twitter.com/JlR3V5ETyZ
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) June 10, 2024
One player who won’t feature is Frenkie De Jong who has left the camp to return to Barcelona for treatment on the ankle injury which ended his season early and will see him miss Euro 2024.
The Dutch will go into the game on the back of six wins in seven and back-to-back 4-0 wins, following up their win over Canada with victory over Iceland in Rotterdam.
Xavi Simons bounced in a close-range volley after Denxel Dumfies had headed back across goal on 23 minutes while Virgil van Dijk made it two just after the break after Nathan Ake had nodded on a corner.
Donyell Malen made the most of a sublime Memphis Depay pass to make it 3-0 with a clinical finish on 79 minutes before Wout Weghorst added an injury-time fourth with a close-range dink over the keeper.
Turkey are in Group F alongside Portugal, Georgia and the Czech Republic, who left it late before edging to victory in their final friendly against North Macedonia in Hradec Králove on Monday evening.
Bayer Leverkusen frontman Patrik Schick – who topped the Euro 2020 scoring charts along with Cristiano Ronaldo with five goals – put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot on the hour, sending the keeper the wrong way.
Isnik Alimi levelled for the visitors just five minutes later with a diving header after a shot had come back off the upright but the game was settled by another penalty nine minutes into added time, converted in identical fashion by sub Antonin Barak.
Twent midfielder Michal Sadilek will miss the tournament after suffering a freak accident during a day off on Sunday.
The Czech camp initially claimed the 25-year-old had sustained a leg laceration in a bicycle accident during a recovery session on Sunday, however on Monday they were forced into confirming the player suffered his injury in a downhill karting accident, with reports in local media claiming he required more than 60 stitches in his shin.
The Czechs begin their campaign against Portugal on June 18 (8pm BST) while Turkey face Georgia earlier that day.
⏱️60. minuta | 🅰️
⚽️ GÓÓÓL! Po pádu v pokutovém území si vzal pokutový kop na starost Patrik Schick a nemýlil se!
[🇨🇿 1⃣-0️⃣ 🇲🇰] pic.twitter.com/j8se4qcxnf
— Česká fotbalová reprezentace (@ceskarepre_cz) June 10, 2024
