legia take command with trabzonspor success published: thursday 2 october 2014, 20.58cet trabzonspor aş 0-1 legia warszawa michał kucharczyk got the only goal of the game as the polish champions saw off the hosts to take control of group l.
• legia top of group l after making it two wins from two • michał kucharczyk scores only goal as visitors finish with ten men • mustapha yatabaré crashes late header against crossbar for trabzonspor • polish champions gain revenge for two group stage defeats last season • next games: trabzonspor v lokeren, metalist v legia (23 october)
legia warszawa maintained a perfect record after two games in group l with michał kucharczyk's goal proving enough to see off trabzonspor aş.
after a pair of 2-0 defeats by the turkish team in last season's group stage, henning berg's men were out for revenge and showed intent early as tomasz jodłowiec was sent clear but a perfectly timed last-ditch tackle from avraam papadopoulos saved the hosts.
legia got the breakthrough 16 minutes in as kucharczyk timed his run impeccably to latch onto a lofted ball over the defence. the no18 took his time to compose himself and slotted into the corner with his right foot as onur kıvrak rushed out.
despite ceding plenty of possession a third excellent chance fell to the visitors before the interval; miroslav radović zigzagged his way through the defence but kévin constant, at full stretch, took the ball off his toe as the legia forward was set to pull the trigger. trabzonspor controlled the ball for long spells but things did not improve after the restart and only another last-gasp challenge prevented legia doubling the advantage, this time from josé bosingwa when kucharczyk looked clear.
as the final quarter arrived, so did the home onslaught. mehmet ekici's volley bounced into the ground and over the bar before sefa yilmaz's angled header was fingertipped over by dušan kuciak.
cardozo slipped a shot just wide before seeing a goalbound drive deflected wide. the resulting corner allowed mustapha yatabaré to thump the crossbar with a header but it was not to be for trabzonspor as legia rode out eight fraught minutes of added time after having michał Żyro sent off late on.
