Mateusz Kochalski has recently begun to make a dizzying career. Last season, he kept 9 clean sheets for Stal Mielec and saved them from trouble more than once. For his excellent performances, he was recognized at the Ekstraklasa gala, where he received the Goalkeeper of the Season award. He was quite lucky to travel with the Polish national team to Euro 2024. In Michał Probierz's squad, he played the role of an additional fourth goalkeeper who helped with training. Initially, the choice fell on Oliwier Zych, but he was injured and replaced by Kochalski. His talent has also been noticed abroad, where he is already delighting fans.
Kochalski defended as if in a trance. Spectacular debut abroad
The Pole was acquired for about one million euros by the champions of Azerbaijan – Karabakh Agdam. The debut was not long in coming. On Saturday, Kochalski appeared for the first time in the starting line-up in a league match against Turan Tovuz. The match did not start well for him. Before the first quarter of an hour had even passed, one of the defenders fouled an opponent in the penalty area and after a VAR review, the referee awarded a penalty. Oto John approached it and confidently aimed it right into the corner. Kochalski had no chance of defending.
After that, however, the Pole could not be defeated, despite the Turan team attacking fiercely. The most noteworthy thing was the excellent intervention after a corner kick, when Alex Souza was heading in. Our goalkeeper made an extremely effective, instinctive dash to the side and practically stopped the ball with his hand on the goal line. In addition, Kochalski was very conscious during a flat free kick, and towards the end of the match he came out of the goal in spectacular style to John, who was rushing with a counter-attack. He shortened the angle, did a split and stopped the kick with his leg in a one-on-one situation.
Although the 24-year-old played phenomenally, victory was not enough to make him completely happy. The Karabakh players were unable to respond and lost 0:1. However, a large part of the team's best players remained on the bench, as they rested before the return match of the fourth round of the Champions League qualifiers with Dinamo Zagreb. In the first away match, the Azeris lost 0:3. At that time, the goalkeeper of Karabakh was Croatian Fabijan Buntić. The decisive defeat will take place on Tuesday, August 28 at 18:45.