June 14, (THEWILL)- The Euros 2020 competition continued with a Monday upset as Slovakia claimed only their third ever major tournament win in their history. They had Milan Škriniar’s instinctive finishing against Poland in Saint Petersburg to thank for that.
Although attacking midfielder Ondrej Duda had already gone close, it was Škriniar who broke the deadlock for Slovakia in the 18th minute.
The Inter Milan centre-back benefitted from Róbert Mak’s legwork, then he slalomed in from the left before unleashing a shot that took one deflection, struck a post and ricocheted in off Wojciech Szczęsny, in the Polish goal.
It took all of 30 seconds into the second half for Poland to level the scores and it did not count on good fortune as the Slovak’s. Polish central midfielder Karol Linetty took the return of a neat exchange down the left wing and fired the ball home for the equaliser.
The Torino player could have had a brace to his name with half a chance to complete the turnaround moments later but he fluffed it before Poland’s momentum was checked when Grzegorz Krychowiak was sent off midway through the second half making it a tough quarter of an hour finish for his side.
In the 69th minute, Škriniar came up for a corner and applied the decisive blow after a sharp turn and finish inside a crowded penalty area to double Slovakia’s advantage.
Bayern Munich and Bundesliga’s record season goalscorer Robert Lewandowski made several attempts especially some late on incursions into the Slovakia area with Jan Bednarek and Karol Świderski threatening to find the goal but Slovakia held on for a very unexpected victory.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
