published: thursday 29 september 2011, 23.10cet legia warszawa 3-2 hapoel tel-aviv fc
the hosts put a disappointing first-half performance behind them to claim a first group c victory courtesy of miroslav radović's 89th-minute strike.
legia warszawa left it late to claim their first uefa europa league group c victory against hapoel tel-aviv fc.
toto tamuz gave the visitors the lead in a first half they dominated, yet it was a different story after the break as legia equalised through danijel ljuboja and gained the upper hand via marcin komorowski's penalty. hapoel got themselves back on terms thanks to substitute mahran lala, but miroslav radović's cool finish earned the hosts victory a minute from time.
with both sides keen to bounce back from opening-night defeats, it was hapoel who dictated possession for long spells in the first half. substitute salim toama's free-kick brought a fine save out of dušan kuciak, who was also on hand to deny nosa ıgiebor moments later.
the visitors then forged ahead through tamuz, who rose highest to head gal shish's cross into the top left-hand corner. the lively tamuz came close to doubling the advantage just before half-time, but his acrobatic overhead kick flew narrowly over the crossbar.
legia coach maciej skorża rang the changes at the interval and there was an immediate improvement from his side. ljuboja got on the end of artur jędrzejczyk's deep cross, yet his header failed to trouble édel apoula. the 33-year-old forward then went close again just past the hour with a volley on the turn which was well saved down to his left by apoula.
legia's second-half dominance began to take its toll and they were level on 67 minutes when the impressive ljuboja headed in a maciej rybus corner from close range. the polish side went in front five minutes later after radović was brought down by ıgiebor inside the area, leaving komorowski to do the rest from the spot.
undeterred by the hosts' resurgence, hapoel fought their way back to parity with 11 minutes remaining. ıgiebor's fiercely struck shot was parried by kuciak and substitute lala reacted first to head in the rebound. that was not the end of the drama, though, as, with a minute remaining, radović raced onto ljuboja's intelligent flick-on and finished with ease to earn his side their first points in group c.
