published: thursday 3 november 2011, 20.55cet legia warszawa 3-1 fc rapid bucureşti
aided by the first-half dismissal of dan alexa, the hosts ensured their place in the round of 32 despite finishing with ten men themselves.
legia warszawa are through to the round of 32 with two games to spare following a 3-1 win against fc rapid bucureşti.
second in group c after beating rapid a fortnight previously, legia received a further boost when dan alexa was shown a 26th-minute red card. they then broke the deadlock nine minutes into the second half through miroslav radović, and the scorer of the winner in bucharest found the net again after filipe teixeira's equaliser. janusz gol was sent off for the hosts with ten minutes left, but legia still managed to add a late third from michał kucharczyk.
predictably, legia, who had scored all four of their group stage goals after half-time, did not start as strongly as they finished. rapid were far more sprightly from the off but threatened only via a series of corners, alexa's early back-post header their best chance.
however, the rapid no5's dismissal for a second bookable offence halted his team's progress and gave maciej skorża's side a sniff. they created only one notable effort before the break, though, danijel ljuboja shooting wide after debutant keeper virgil draghia had been dispossessed on the outskirts of his penalty area.
right on cue, nine minutes after the interval, legia went in front, with radović first to react after artur jędrzejczyk's header had come back off a post. depleted and behind, rapid showed admirable resolve and nearly drew level soon after, vladimir božović's volley skipping off the crossbar.
two minutes later they did equalise, when teixeira bent a shot into the corner having been deftly played into space by ovidiu herea. as swiftly as they had drawn level, however, rapid were again in arrears, radović the quickest to respond once more after draghia had spilt maciej rybus's shot.
gol's departure gave rapid a glimmer of hope, but răzvan lucescu's charges were stung while looking for a second, kucharczyk applying the finishing touch to a clinical counterattack.
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