Football: Lewandowski's hat-trick against Armenia makes him Poland's top-scorer, close to World Cup qualification

Sunday, October 8, 2017

On Thursday, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski surpassed Włodzimierz Lubański's goal scoring record for the country in a qualifying match against Armenia for next year's FIFA World Cup. Lewandowski equalled Lubanski's record of 48 goals in the eighteenth minute of the game, and became new top-scorer after scoring another in the 25th minute. Lubanski had scored 48 goals for Poland in 75 matches.

Poland's Kamil Grosicki opened the scoring just two minutes after the kick-off. Lewandowski scored his 48th goal via a free-kick in the eighteenth minute and 49th goal in the 25th minute. Hovhannes Hambardzumyan scored a header, the only goal for Armenia, in the 39th minute. The first half ended in a 3–1 lead for Poland in Yerevan. In the second half, Jakub Błaszczykowski scored the fourth goal for Poland. Lewandowski, who was playing his 90th international match, completed his hat-trick when he scored his 50th international goal in the 64th minute. Just minutes before final time, Rafał Wolski scored the sixth goal for Poland.

Lewandowski has now scored fifteen goals in the qualification matches, setting up a new record of most goals scored in European Qualifiers. The previous record was set by Yogislavian Predrag Mijatović, who scored fourteen goals. Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo equalled Mijatović's record in August, scored a goal yesterday and became the joint top-scorer with Lewandowski in European Qualifiers.

With the 6–1 victory over Armenia, Poland has won 22 points in nine qualification matches, and sits on the top of the Group E table. They need just one point to earn direct qualification for the World Cup. Their next game is against Montenegro in Warsaw, scheduled for today.

On the same day, defending world champions Germany defeated Northern Ireland 3–1 in Belfast and qualified for the World Cup with nine victories in nine qualification matches. England defeated Slovenia 1–0 and qualified for the World Cup too. On Friday, Spain defeated Albania 3–0 and joined Germany and England to qualify.

October 5, 2017
	Armenia	1–6	Poland
	Hovhannes Hambardzumyan 39'	1–3 (HT)	Kamil Grosicki 2' Robert Lewandowski 18', 25', 64' Jakub Błaszczykowski 58' Rafał Wolski 89'

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Sources

Paul Saffer. "Ronaldo levels Lewandowski's European Qualifiers goal record" — UEFA, October 8, 2017
Arch Bell. "Spain book World Cup ticket" — Marca (newspaper), October 6, 2017
"Lewandowski sets Poland record" — FC Bayern, October 5, 2017
"Robert Lewandowski becomes Poland's all-time leading scorer" — ESPN FC, October 5, 2017
AP. "Germany, England seal World Cup qualification; Poland close" — USA Today, October 5, 2017
FIFA. "FIFA on Twitter" — Twitter, October 5, 2017

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