This season, Nicola Zalewski played only a minute in the Champions League. Listed to Inter in February, he had a symbolic performance in a clash with Bayern Munich. The game was prevented by calf injury, then recovery and strong competition in the team lasted. Because Inter was effective, Simone Inzaghi focused on other players. However, in the final of the Champions League against PSG, Inter collided with the wall. The Italian trainer tried to shake the helpless team with his changes.
He did more in 60 seconds than his colleague for 50 minutes
That is why the Pole appeared on the pitch a little earlier. Inzaghi reached for the Pole as the first on the bench, which can be an optimistic sign for the future. Zalewski appeared on the playground in the 54th minute – at 2: 0 for PSG and the full dominance of the team from Paris. Already in his first action Zalewski had to sprint in his own half to save the team from the situation alone. He made it before his rival.
It wasn't a minute, and Zalewski was already rushing his left side and fell into the penalty area. He fired a strong shot that was blocked by the PSG defense. When he fought for the ball, he fell over with his rival. However, it was the Pole who stepped on the opponent's foot. He got a yellow card for it, but it is difficult to blame him for this action. He wanted to change something with his dynamics, determining and give a signal to his colleagues that he was not letting go. During these 60 seconds he did more on the pitch than the Federico Dimarco player, whom he changed. Anyway, in the following minutes the Pole was again active in the game for one contact even with Lautaro Martinez. He seemed to benefit from his entrance.
When Carlos Augusto appeared on the pitch, Zalewski moved from the wing to the middle of the pitch. For a certain moment the Pole was visible, but it was also minutes when the rival came to the fore. PSG increased the result of the match to 3: 0 and stayed on the ball for a long time. Zalewski's colleagues played inaccurately, twice as slowly than their rivals, without idea and faith in success. Zalewski tried to help in defense, which in Munich was not a collective.
The Italians were quickly raised with counterattacks. The results board was 0: 4, then 0: 5, and the judge finished the competition evenly in the 90th minute, saving Suffering to Italy. Zalewski finished the match with his head down and consolation from the coach, but he was one of the two players who fired at the PSG goal. In the 80th minute he got the ball on the 30th meter, ran forward and hit from a distance. Accurately, but too weak and in the middle. Gianluigi Donnaruma had no problems catching a football. The Pole also finished the match with one successful dribbling for three rehearsals and three losses. These were not sensational numbers, but against the background of colorless colleagues they were not bad either. Piotr Zieliñski He did not pass his 10th match in the Champions League this season. He sat the whole meeting on the bench. Like his colleagues with his head, he watched the coronation of new masters. He played in the Champions League this season for 586 minutes.
Zalewski like Piszczek and Błaszczykowski
The final of the Champions League in Munich will be saved in Polish statistics of the Champions League finals with a big hunger. May it not take long for the next Polish evening. Poles do not happen often in the finals of the most prestigious games.
Robert Lewandowski was the last who experienced the football “heaven”. Attacker Bayern after the final with PSG in 2020 could lift the most valuable cup. Another Pole, Marcin Bułka, watched from the bench. Over a decade ago, the final did not come out of our three from Dortmund. Jakub Błaszczykowski, Łukasz Piszczek and Robert Lewandowski watched the triumph of rivals from Bayern. Even earlier, Tomasz Kuszczak (a reserve goalkeeper Manchester United in three finals, one win). In 2005, the hero of the final with Milan Jerzy Dudek was. Two winners playing in the finals and one enjoying a bench for a quarter of a century, it's a bit enough. Earlier it wasn't better either, because the Champions League Cup (once the European Cup) only won Zbigniew Boniek and Józef Młynarczyk.