Stadion Wojska Polskiego Friday, May 16th, 2014 k/o 20:30   Ekstraklasa Attendance: 27,500 (estimated)         Legia Warsaw 5-0 Wisla Kraków
2013 /14

Comments :

My first experience of Polish football, and what an experience! For the first 20 minutes I didn't really watch the game: I was so transfixed by the home supporters at the other end, in the Zileta. They sang continuously for pretty much the whole 90 minutes, even though it was 0-0 for the first 20 minutes or so. Everybody in the stand seemed to be in the team's colours, and everyone had a scarf. They was also an amazing array of flags and banners, including one which was unfurled from the roof and stretched down to the pitch - a kind of net curtain picturing the top half of a Legia player saluting a goal. There was also a lot of movement from the fans, above all the arm-in-arm bouncing which everyone seemed to join in with. I had never ever seen such a spectacle, at frankly any ground I've ever been to. Even as a neutral, you couldn't fail to be excited by an experience like that. The fact that it was a night match only enhanced the occasion. It obviously helped that Legia won 5-0 against a team that had won 8 of the previous 15 Polish championships, but they sang just as much in the next home match which they lost 1-2 having never been ahead in the game. The hero worship for Marek Saganowski was immense, even though he only came off the bench (and scored the 5th and best goal of the game). All that for a player who never really made a big impact at Southampton a few years back.