Smiling from ear to ear, Adrian Siemieniec was leaving the Chorten Arena pitch while his players were still there celebrating one of the most impressive victories in the club's history. If someone had said before the start of the group phase that Jagiellonia would beat Molde, experienced in European cups, 3-0, the vast majority would have laughed their ass off. But it's true! For Jagiellonia again “Sky is the limit!”
A historic evening in Białystok. Whoever hasn't seen it, that's a bummer!
Only 12,500 fans were present at the Chorten Arena during Thursday's match. And the rest now only regret their absence. Despite the low temperature, the players and the most ardent fans of Jagiellonia Białystok from the very beginning did everything to make the lines and numbers on the thermometer disappear into the background.
Jagiellonia? She played one of the best matches in the club's history again, this time in the European cups. She didn't give Molde any chances, and the score 3-0 was the minimum penalty for the Norwegians. It was a concert of Adrian Siemieniec's calculating band, who at the end could celebrate with the fans, again as a choir conductor.
And although the stands were approximately 60% full, the most ardent Jaga fans, who filled their stand quite tightly, presented an impressive setting from the very beginning, followed by cheering, which only helped Adrian Siemieniec's team.
When Jagiellonia was leading 3-0, the Białystok fans did not intend to stop. “One, two, three, LITTLE!” – they shouted, demanding more goals. There weren't any, but nobody left the stadium dissatisfied.
What a transformation for Jagiellonia. One goal conceded in three games
When Bodo/Glimt and Ajax, and even Lech Poznań, Cracovia and GKS Katowice, scored goal after goal for Jagiellonia Białystok, a total of as many as 24 in seven games, everyone could be afraid of how the Polish champion's defense would withstand the competition in the league phase of European cups.
However, Adrian Siemieniec and his Jagiellonia surprised everyone again. Since the “manita” in Poznań and the home victory against Lechia Gdańsk, the Polish champion has not conceded more than one goal in any of the ten matches. In three European Conference League matches with FC Copenhagen, Petrocub and Molde, it conceded only one goal in total. And this is no coincidence, because in the last two cup matches, including Thursday's match against Molde, the team did not allow their opponents to have even one dangerous scoring opportunity. Molde, which played in the 1/8 finals of the Conference League last season, was completely helpless.
Jagiellonia's last 10 matches have seen as many as six clean sheets and only four goals conceded. What a change!
Eleven Norwegians played in Molde, but the best one was in yellow and red! Hansen brought down his compatriots
Eight Norwegians in the starting eleven and another three coming off the bench. In total, as many as eleven local players played for the visiting team! But the best Norwegian was still the one in the yellow and red shirt, Kristoffer Hansen. It was he who scored two goals in the second half for the Polish champions and defeated his compatriots.
He also went through a metamorphosis, because in the summer, in a two-legged match against another Norwegian team, Bodo/Glimt, he was one of the weakest players in the team. Now no one can imagine Jagiellonia's wings without the 30-year-old rejected by Widzew Łódź.
Jesus Imaz also played against a serious opponent in the European cups. The Spaniard looked really weak in Copenhagen and it seemed that the thresholds were too high for him. Against Molde, Imaz showed that this was not true. Two great assists for Hansen's goals contributed greatly to Jagiellonia's victory.
Jagiellonia on the highway to the 1/8 finals of LKE. It's beautiful and you have to take advantage of it
An away match against FC Copenhagen and a home match against Molde – no one in their right mind thought after the draw that Jagiellonia Białystok would score all the points in these confrontations. Especially when we remembered how Adrian Siemieniec's team lost matches against Bodo/Glimt and Ajax Amsterdam. Yet! The Polish champion is not even close to leaving the European Conference League group, which is practically a foregone conclusion, but to directly advancing from the top eight to the 1/8 finals.
After defeating the two strongest rivals, the team from Białystok is strongly favored by the further schedule of the league phase. Jaga only has to compete with opponents from Slovenia (Celje and Olimpija Ljubljana) and the average Czech Mlada Boleslav.
The next two of these matches will be away matches – on November 28, Jaga will face Celje in Slovenia, and on December 12, they will play in the Czech Republic against Mlada Boleslav. This year's competition will end on December 19 with a home match against Olimpija Ljubljana. It's really possible!