Robert Lewandowski misses OPEN GOAL as Poland’s talisman hits the bar twice within seconds against Sweden… and his two second-half goals were not enough to stop Paulo Sousa’s men crashing out of Euro 2020
- Sweden took the lead in the second minute before Robert Lewandowski’s sitter
- The cross came in and the striker had done well initially to head against the bar
- However, Lewandowski hit the bar again with Robin Olsen lying on the ground
- Gary Neville, Eni Aluko and Ally McCoist reacted with shock to the miss
- Emil Forsberg scored twice before Lewandowski netted a double of his own
- But Viktor Claesson scored a stoppage-time winner as Poland crashed out
- Find out the latest Euro 2020 news including fixtures, live action and results here
He’s been the most lethal player in Europe this season, but Robert Lewandowski missed an open goal for Poland as they were dumped out of Euro 2020.
Going into the game against Sweden, Paulo Sousa’s men knew that a win was the only option to progress.
However, they got off the worst possible start against the Scandinavians as Emil Forsberg worked his way into the Poland box before lashing home a left-footed strike.
Robert Lewandowski initially did well to his header down into the ground and onto the bar
However, the European Golden Shoe winner missed his follow-up with the goal gaping
The 41-goal Bundesliga top scorer got underneath his effort and the ball was scrambled clear
Then, on 17 minutes, the shocking miss by the Bundesliga’s record goalscorer in a single season.
The corner was whipped in brilliantly. Lewandowski, who scored the equaliser against Spain, initially did well, heading his header into the ground before it bounced up and hit Robin Olsen’s bar.
However, with the ball then bouncing off the woodwork invitingly and Olsen on the ground, Lewandowski got underneath his follow-up and hit the bar again before Sweden right back Mikael Lustig scrambled it away.
Lewandowski was no doubt mystified about how he had missed that, with the ITV summarisers equally perplexed.
Gary Neville said: ‘(The) only thing I can think is he thinks goalkeeper will get it and he has to head it into the top of the net, but I don’t know why he’s missed it.’
Eni Aluko expressed similar sentiments: ‘Wow. If there is anyone who you’d expect to score, it’s Lewandowski, aka Lewangoalski. He just needs to head it down. It’s a bad miss.’
Emil Forsberg scored twice to put as Sweden looked set to top the group in Saint Petersburg
But Lewandowski put the sitter behind him to score twice in a gripping second half
It was winger Viktor Claesson who had the last laugh though as Sweden finished above Spain
Co-commentator in the Spain-Slovakia game Ally McCoist gave his view after seeing the incident, saying: ‘I don’t know what he’s thinking about. He’s just got to head it into an open net.’
Forsberg then doubled his tally in the second tally, before Lewandowski scored two of his own to somewhat make up for his earlier miss.
But late substitute Viktor Claesson’s 94th-minute winner was a dagger to Polish hearts as Janne Andersson’s side finished top of Group E just ahead of Spain, who thrashed Slovakia 5-0.