Poland
defeated Germany for the first time in their 19 meetings to steal a
march in UEFA EURO 2016 Group D and stun the world champions.
Germany
had won 12 and drawn six of the previous fixtures between these two but
almost all of a sell-out 56,934 crowd in Warsaw were willing that to
change. Bundesliga-based Robert Lewandowski could have moved level with
Zbigniew Boniek on 24 international goals had he scored, but in the end
he did not need to beat club-mate Manuel Neuer.
It was tight early
on, until Germany started to dominate possession and on 31 minutes a
Jérôme Boateng long-range effort was deflected away. Thomas Müller was
unable to beat Wojciech Szczęsny and was then thwarted by Kamil Glik
when seemingly in the clear. Müller also headed over a 42nd-minute André
Schürrle cross, before things turned after the break.
The home
team began to produce quick counterattacks and from one they took a
51st-minute lead. Borussia Dortmund defender Łukasz Piszczek sent a
great pass into the box which Arkadiusz Milik, himself on loan to AFC
Ajax from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, rose high to nod in.
Germany looked
to respond but Szczęsny and the Polish defence held firm while Karim
Bellarabi shot over. Then, as time ran out, Lewandowski broke into the
area and cut back for substitute Sebastian Mila to seal a famous
victory.
