On Sunday, the Polish national team lost to Croatia 0:1 in the second match of the Nations League. For Michał Probierz's team, it was the first defeat in this competition. On Thursday, in the first match, the Poles defeated Scotland away 3:2.
After the match in Osijek, Probierz's team was heavily criticized. Not for the defeat itself, because that is nothing to be ashamed of, but for its style. In the first half, the Poles did not have a single shot on the Croatian goal and had only two contacts with the ball in their penalty area.
Polish national team legend Grzegorz Lato has issued a harsh critique of Robert Lewandowski. The Barcelona striker, apart from one flash in the second half when he hit the crossbar, was almost completely invisible.
– After 20 minutes of the match I even started to wonder if Robert Lewandowski was on the pitch. (…) If the game is going badly, he should even stand up at some point, shout at his teammates, using harsh words. Say: “If someone doesn't like it, doesn't care, then let them f… off!” – Lato said in an interview with polsatsport.pl.
The Spanish quote Lata's words
The words of the top scorer of the 1974 World Cup reached Spain. Lata was quoted by “Mundo Deportivo”, noting that the legend of Polish football had harshly criticized Lewandowski. The Spaniards compared these words with Lata's flattering statement about Nicola Zalewski.
– I like Zalewski a lot. Also in the match against Croatia he fought, ran at full speed, which I can't say about other players. Including the top ones – the Spaniards quoted the aforementioned conversation with the former striker.
“On other occasions, Lato has been very critical of Lewandowski, accusing him of waving his arms too much during the match and of not being the best person to take penalties,” the Spanish journalists concluded.
The next matches for Poland in the Nations League are in a month. On October 12th we will play at home against Portugal, and three days later we will host Croatia.