Euro 2020: Poland's overdependence on Robert Lewandowski backfires against Slovakia

It was déjà vu for Poland when they played their opening game of Euro 2020 against Slovakia at the St. Petersburg Stadium on Monday.

Paulo Sousa’s side came into the game as favorites but also on the back of a poor record in opening matches in major tournaments.

Since 2000, the Eagles have lost five of their six opening fixtures at tournaments. Unfortunately, the story was no different as Slovakia recorded a shock 2-1 win.

An own goal from Wojciech Szczesny in the 18th minute gave signs of a bad day at the office for the Poles. However, Karol Linetty restored parity seconds after the restart before Milan Skriniar scored what eventually became the winner for Slovakia.

1 - Poland striker Robert Lewandowski has scored just one goal on his last 33 shots attempted (11 on target) in a major tournament (World Cup + EURO), that was against Portugal in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016. Mute #POL #SVK #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/aDrEEAnOON

— OptaJean (@OptaJean) June 14, 2021

Slovakia claim spoils in Euro opener

The first half was largely a lopsided affair, with Slovakia playing with more cohesion and dominating possession.

Despite having a better team, Poland couldn’t find answers to the wave of attacks initiated by their opponents. And it didn’t take too long for the Poles to break.

Robert Mak was allowed space on the flanks, and the winger’s shot ricocheted off Szczesny into the latter’s own net, making the Juventus man the first goalkeeper to score an own goal in the history of the Euros.

Poland grew into the game in the second, and the equalizer from Linetty was well-worked. However, the sending off of Grzegorz Krychowiak killed any chance of the Poles getting a win.

Slovakia duly capitalized on their numerical advantage, with Inter Milan centre-back Skriniar finishing with aplomb in the 69th minute to claim all three points for his country.

Poland are only the second team to score an own goal and have a player sent off in the same European Championship game after Czechoslovakia against the Netherlands in 1976. 🤯#POL #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/1mnai1OrJN

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 14, 2021

Poland’s overdependence on Lewandowski backfires

It must be surprising that Robert Lewandowski hasn’t been mentioned in this article – not even once. That’s simply because the Bayern Munich forward had a quiet game.

The 32-year-old is the talisman of the Poland team and their all-time top scorer with 66 goals. However, he cannot do it all alone.

On a day when Slovakia found a way to neutralize him, the entire Polish team fell flat due to their overreliance on their captain.

"Some players can play better, but the most disappointing thing was the lack of concentration to make the right decisions - so maybe that what is needed to improve is the mental side, not physical," Poland coach Sousa bemoaned after the game, as quoted by CAN.

"When we have spaces, (we need) to have much more quality in our crossings, in our decisions, in our passes which give us the chance to score a goal."

Poland has relied on Lewandowski for goals for many years now, but it’s time for other players to step up when he’s marked out of matches.

Lewandowski may be a great goalscorer, but he’s not superhuman. He has his flaws, and Slovakia made Poland pay for their overdependence on the reigning FIFA Men’s Best Player.