Djurgården went undefeated through the group stage, but has acquired a clever starting position for the return next Thursday.
In front of packed stands in a cold Poznan, where a couple of thousand traveling Djurgården supporters were among the spectators, the Stockholmers were not quite enough against their Polish opponents.
Admittedly, it took until the 39th minute before Lech Poznan – with the Swedish trio Filip Dagerstål, Jesper Karlström and Mikael Ishak in the starting eleven – broke the deadlock. On a free kick for the home team, Antonio Milic snuck up behind Marcus Danielson and neatly headed in the 1-0 goal behind Jacob Widell Zetterström.
The “blue stripes” dressed in white for the day had so far had their best chance when Joel Asoro in a really good position completely missed getting a hit on a post.
Lech Poznan had most of the possession, but Djurgården had a slightly stronger period at the beginning of the second half. Victor Edvardsen had the big equalizer, but sent the finish over from close range.
Djurgården had to see newly signed centre-back Carlos Moros Gracia limp out with barely a quarter of an hour left after taking a hit. Substitute Jesper Löfgren’s entry was anything but successful. When Lech Poznan came on one of the few truly dangerous attacks in the second half, both Löfgren and Hampus Finndell failed to clear the ball – and instead Filip Marchwinski was allowed to send in 2-0 in the 82nd minute.
In the fifth extra minute, Michal Skoras had a great opportunity to counter in 3-0, but the shot went over. In any case, it means that Djurgården’s hope for advancement is alive to a greater extent, but it will require a clearly better effort at home on Tele2 Arena’s familiar artificial grass.
In Poznan, Djurgården didn’t even manage to get a single finish on goal.