Barcelona striker out of Euro opener

The Polish Football Association has reviewed that Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has sustained an injury that will force him out of the country’s first game at the 2024 Euro Championships, which will start on Friday in Germany.

Poland will face the Netherlands in their opening game on Sunday, but they will have to execute the match without their captain and star player Robert Lewandowski because of a thigh injury he sustained in training, as announced by a statement on Tuesday. 

The striker sustained the thigh problem on Monday in Poland’s international friendly and tournament warm-up game against Turkey. The 35-year-old started the 2-1 victory but only lasted 33 minutes in the game before he was substituted.

“Lewandowski suffered a rupture of the biceps femoris muscle, which will exclude him from the first match of the tournament,” the statement read.

The injury will be a huge blow to Poland as Robert Lewandowski is their all-time goal scorer with 82 goals from 150 games. Unfortunately, he is not the only injury problem they have ahead of their opening game as defender Pawel Dawidowicz and striker Karol Swiderski also suffered injuries, although they are both expected to recover fully before Sunday and play a part in the opening game.

Poland will also face Austria and France in Group D of the competition after their opening game against the Netherlands.

Full Poland squad:

Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus), Lukasz Skorupski (Bologna), Marcin Bulka (Nice).

Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Bartosz Bereszynski (Empoli), Jakub Kiwior (Arsenal), Tymoteusz Puchacz (Kaiserlsuatern), Bartosz Salamon (Lech Poznan), Pawel Dawidowicz (Verona), Sebastian Walukiewicz (Empoli).

Midfielders: Kamil Grosicki (Pogon Szczecin), Piotr Zielenski (Napoli), Przemyslaw Frankowski (Lens), Sebastian Szymanski (Fenerbahce), Jakub Moder (Brighton), Damian Szymanski (AEK Athens), Nicola Zalewksi (Roma), Bartosz Slisz (Atlanta United), Michal Skoras (Club Brugge), Jakub Piotrowksi (Ludogorets Razgrad), Taras Romanczuk (Jagiellonia Bialystok), Kacper Urbanski (Bologna).

Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona), Karol Swiderksi (Verona), Krzysztof Piatek (Istanbul Basaksehir), Adam Buksa (Antalyaspor).