Lewandowski's hat-trick sinks Romania 6:0, but captain to miss next match

Hat-trick and a red card

On Friday, Poland's national team claimed a commanding 6:0 victory over Romania in a UEFA Nations League match. The main hero was captain Robert Lewandowski, 38, who scored three goals.

In the 22nd minute, Lewandowski was fouled inside the penalty area by Radu Dragusin, who was sent off for the challenge. Lewandowski converted the resulting penalty in the 24th minute to put Poland ahead 1:0. Playing with a one-man advantage, Poland took control of the match, and by the 49th minute they led 3:0. The game finished 6:0.

Coach's comments

Head coach Jan Urban said after the match that the numerical advantage proved decisive. "When we played 11 against 11, there was great determination, but the Romanians had dangerous counterattacks at times. Then came the penalty and the red card — that turned the match around," Urban said. He also praised 22-year-old midfielder Wiktor Nowak of Slavia Prague, who made his national team debut a week earlier against Bosnia and Herzegovina (0:0) and has featured in each of the last three matches; Urban called him "a complete player." After the game, Urban thanked Romania's coach Gheorghe Hagi, noting the two are nearly the same age and once played against each other in Spain's La Liga, adding that it was understandable Hagi was downcast after the defeat.

A historic milestone

With the hat-trick — his 90th, 91st and 92nd international goals — Lewandowski overtook Malaysia's Mokhtar Dahari (89 goals) to move into sole sixth place on the all-time list of top international scorers. Ahead of him are Romelu Lukaku (93), Sunil Chhetri (95), Ali Daei (108), as well as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Notably, the source article itself gives conflicting figures for Messi and Ronaldo: the text cites 125 and 146 goals respectively, while an accompanying table lists 116 and 143.

Suspension and the next match

In the 43rd minute, Lewandowski received a yellow card — his second in consecutive matches, after one picked up against Sweden. As a result, the captain will miss Poland's next Nations League match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, October 5. According to one source, that match will be played away. Without Lewandowski up front, Poland is likely to field Karol Świderski or Mateusz Żukowski.