Friday August 22nd 2025
Hibernian vs Legia Warszawa at Easter Road
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
After a win against FK Partizan in the last round, Hibs welcomed Legia Warszawa to Easter Road in the 1st leg of the last UEFA Conference league qualifying round.
With Hibs goal keeper Jordan Smith having a howler in the previous game, he seeked to redeem himself after letting in goals that secured FK Partizan’s victory, only securing their dreams of European success by aggregate. Legia Warszawa represented a challenge for the homeside, being a strong side with fresh talent despite only finishing 5th in the Polish league last season.
Right from the off, in a packed Easter Road, Hibs applied instant pressure to Legia Warazawa. It was a very positive start from Hibs, having an attempt on goal from the beginning that was stopped by Legia’s goalkeeper. This was followed by another instant attack with the Hibernian side showing great intent from the start.
Legia were showing great play in the first quarter of the match, blocking and defending efficiently against Hibs probing attacks. Goal scoring opportunities came early on for Hibs with attacking chances blocked by Legia’s back four.
Hibs kept on pressing which led to an opportunity for Kieron Bowie who was following on from his great performance in last week’s European tie. On this occasion he failed to finish sending the ball over the cross bar. Ths was a huge opportunity missed by the homeside.
Hibs continued to create chances but were very lackluster in their finishing. The Polish side also had their chances with the game going back and forth.
A scrummage in the box led to a powerful strike by Legia’s striker that was stopped by Rocky Bushiri’s chest after a dive infront of the ball. With fans erupting, the Finnish referee brought the play to VAR, claiming a handball by Rocky during his dive. VAR showed the defender’s hand hit the ball, leading to a penalty for Legia. Legia’s striker, Jean-Pierre Nsame, takes the penalty and places the ball securely in the top left corner.
The game’s intensity began to ramp up with Legia’s Nsame going down after an alleged head knock that worried the referee but he seen no trouble in getting back up. Slowing the game down into the final minutes of the half, this infuriated both Hibs players and fans.
With 5 minutes added on to the first half, Hibs began to pressure hard but this was stopped by strong defensive play.
A block on goal from Hibs lands the ball in a dangerous area in the homesides box. Goal scorer Nsame places the ball through to Pawel Wszolek, who taps the ball past Hibs Jordan Smith. Making the score 2-0 to the visitors going into the 2nd half of play.
Going into the 2nd half, Hibs made no changes despite David Gray needing to apply more attacking play.
First goal scoring opportunity for Hibs came in the 49 minue in with a corner that was received by Rocky Bushiri’s head that went high over the bar. This was followed with a strong attack by Legia that led to a corner from the visitors that was enivatably cleaned up by Hibs defence.
The homesides first change came in 51 minutes with a triple change of Cadden, Mcgrath and Chaiwa for Iredale, Levitt and Campbell. David Gray making a three person substitution less than 1 minutes into the half showed that Hibs were continuing to struggle.
Legia held onto their lead with lucky defending and failed chances from Hibs. Strong attack from the visitors led to a goal by Bartosz Kapustka that was called offside after a VAR check, giving Hibs more hope for a comeback.
A series of missed opportunities and wide shots from both teams led to a fantastic opportunity by Hibs. A cross from Nicky Cadden to subsititute Thibault Klidje left the player with an open goal heading opportunity that was sent right of the post.
David Gray’s choice of putting on Klidje may have been a mistake as the striker couldn’t score from endless opportunities despite being fantastic goal scoring chances, demonstrating that the substitute striker isn’t up to scratch for a European stage.
Following this, Hibs scored their first goal after a scramble in Legia’s box with a shot 2nd time of asking by Josh Mulligan who slammed it in making it 2-1 going into the final minutes of the game. Mulligan scored by a run on to the back post where the opportunity looked lost after an initial save by Legia’s goal keeper, Kacper Tobiasz, rebounded the ball back into play.
With an extra 5 minutes added on to the game, both teams continued to push for a goal with Legia showing no sign of parking the bus.
The final whistle was blown and the game ended 2-1 to the visitors. Both sides demonstrated great play with the homeside given many chances they couldn’t finish. The game would have been a completely different story if a penalty wasn’t given against Hibs in the first half.
Hibs displayed a successful comeback after being down by two going into the halftime break but they just couldn’t find an opportunity to equalise following their goal in the closing minutes. The Hibernian side fought back from 2-0 down to end the game 2-1, this may give them a chance in the 2nd leg.
With Legia Warszawa coming out of the game with the strongest performance, Hibs will need to change up their attacking play if they plan to keep their European dream alive in Warsaw next Thursday.
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