Job done for Lech Poznan as Finland's KuPS say farewell to European journey

Lech Poznan were too strong for KuPS over two legs
Lech Poznan were too strong for KuPS over two legsPressFocus / ddp USA / Profimedia

KuPS' European adventure has come to an end as they fell to a 1-0 away defeat to Lech Poznan to complete a 3-0 aggregate succes for the Polish side in their UEFA Conference League (UECL) knockout stage play-off encounter.

With one foot already in the next round of this season’s competition after a 2-0 win in the first leg, Lech started strongly as Mikael Ishak’s second-minute effort from the edge of the area forced a save from Johannes Kreidl.

The hosts remained on top as Luis Palma twice threatened, first sending a free-kick narrowly wide before forcing Kreidl into an impressive stop. Despite Patrik Walemark and Taofeek Ismaheel seeing efforts sail off-target, KuPS survived the first-half onslaught to keep hopes of qualification alive.

The narrative remained unchanged following the restart, with Pablo Rodriguez the latest Lech player to see his effort kept out by Kreidl. However, Rodriguez had the last laugh in the 65th minute as he put the hosts ahead with an unstoppable strike that left Kreidl with little chance of making a save.

Despite an uneventful remainder of the second half, the majority inside the Poznan Stadium will undoubtedly welcome the result with open arms. Home and away wins across their play-off encounter sees Lech progress to the next round in full confidence.

Meanwhile, despite seeing their participation in this season’s competition come to an end with the 1-0 defeat, KuPS will surely be proud of getting this far in what was their first-ever venture into the knockout stages of a European competition for the Finnish club. 

Lech will now face either Rayo Vallecano or Shakhtar Donetsk in the UECL Round of 16.

Review all tonight's UECL results on Flashscore.

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