Lewski Sofia beat Jagiellonia 1:0 with late header in Europa League

A late corner settles the match

Lewski Sofia beat Jagiellonia Białystok 1:0 on Thursday, 5 November, in the fourth matchday of the Europa League league phase. The score was 0:0 at half-time, with both sides recording two shots on target. The only goal came in the 83rd minute, when David Kusso delivered a corner onto the head of substitute Stiwan Stojanczow. Ousmane Sow had come close to scoring for Jagiellonia shortly before, and Lewski pressed harder in response, winning a series of corners in the closing stages.

Chances at both ends

Jagiellonia started with intent. Nik Prelec shot wide early on, and Jesus Imaz fired over the bar in the sixth minute. Another Jagiellonia chance, from about 12 metres, struck the advancing keeper Swetosław Wucow. Lewski's counterattacks were stopped by Apostolos Konstantopoulos, who blocked a shot from Reinaldo and won several duels. After the break Prelec again missed the target in the 49th minute, and Taras Romanczuk failed to convert a good cross from a corner.

Standings and the Europa League table

Before kickoff Jagiellonia were 27th in the league phase table with three points from three matches, while Lewski were 17th with four points. Lewski had lost 0:1 to Salzburg, drawn 1:1 with NEC Nijmegen and beaten Viktoria Pilzno 2:1. Jagiellonia had lost 1:2 to Olympiakos and 0:3 to Anderlechtem, and beaten Ararat-Armenia 3:1. After this match Jagiellonia have three points from four games, one win and three losses, while Lewski have seven. TVP Info places Jagiellonia 28th after the defeat, with Bournemouth leading on 12 points.

Jagiellonia Białystok3

Lewski Sofia7

Jagiellonia Białystok

3 points

Lewski Sofia

7 points

Data from the article text

Money at stake

The league phase already guaranteed Jagiellonia 8.16 million euros, while Lech Poznań were guaranteed 10.04 million. Winning a match is worth a bonus of 450,000 euros, and a draw pays 150,000. Interia calculated that, had the league phase ended at the standings before the match, Jagiellonia would have earned 770,000 euros in position bonuses. The points race also matters for Poland's position in the UEFA national ranking, where Greece stood at 46.812 points and the Czech Republic and Poland were level on 45.725 points. The country in 10th place in that ranking would send its national champion straight into the 2027/2028 Champions League group stage.

Before the kickoff and what follows

Before the match, supporters of Lewski and Jagiellonia clashed in a buffer sector, and Bulgarian security brought the situation under control. Kickoff was delayed by several minutes as a result. In the final minutes Lewski ran down the clock, and the Polish side could not level the score. Jagiellonia's next opponent in the Europa League is Sunderland.