Legia Warszawa goes into the final round of the season with European competition still within reach, but only if it beats Motor Lublin and gets help elsewhere. Legia, seventh in the table with 46 points, must also see GKS Katowice lose to Pogoń Szczecin and Zagłębie Lubin fail to beat Jagiellonia Białystok for its scenario to work.
The timing gives the match a sharper edge after Legia’s 2-1 loss to Lechia Gdańsk in the previous round, when Antonio Colak scored in the 93rd minute. Motor arrives with less pressure after securing its place in the Ekstraklasa, but not less ambition. Mateusz Stolarski said his side would travel to Warsaw with its strongest lineup and try to win, framing the meeting as a test of respect for its supporters and the league.
That is the weight behind a game that could still swing Legia’s season. Marek Papszun said someone had calculated Legia’s chances of finishing fifth at about 15.5 percent, but he brushed aside the number and stressed that the first requirement is winning its own match. He said if Legia does not beat Motor, then the other results in Białystok and Szczecin will not matter. He added that he remains optimistic and believes the club can finish fifth.
The teams have already shown how tight this matchup can be. Their previous meeting ended 1-1, with Rafał Augustyniak scoring for Legia and Karol Czubak equalizing for Motor. This time Motor comes to the capital after a 3-3 draw with Cracovia in which it recovered from a 1-3 deficit, a result that showed both resilience and attacking edge. Motor has scored 46 goals before the last round, and Czubak, with 18 goals, is still in the race for the Ekstraklasa scoring title.
Legia’s task is complicated by absences. Patryk Kun will not play because he is leaving the club and was reported unfit, while Wahan Biczahczjan, Paweł Wszołek, Arkadiusz Reca, Petar Stojanović, Claude Goncalves and Mileta Rajović are injured. Rajović has returned to training, and Legia also has Rafał Adamski and Antonio Colak available again. Motor will be without injured goalkeeper Ivan Brkić, Kacper Plichta is unavailable, and Ivo Rodrigues is suspended after yellow-card accumulation.
Motor has never won at Legia’s stadium, Ł3, and that history gives the final round another layer. For Legia, the equation is simple only on paper: win in Warsaw, hope for slips in Katowice and Białystok, and turn a season that has drifted toward disappointment into a late rescue.
