Lewandowski double against Scotland gives Poland Euro 2016 hope

A win or 1-1 draw will seal automatic qualification for Adam Nawalka’s team (thus condemning the Republic of Ireland to the play-0ffs, should Germany avoid defeat).

But Lewandowski’s scrambled leveller kept the Poles second in the group – level on points with Martin O’Neill’s Ireland – and opened up a six-point gap over the Scots.

TALKING POINT – What now for Gordon Strachan and Scotland?

Ritchie, who conceded the foul for the free-kick which led to Poland’s second, said: “It was a bittersweet night for me”.

“That is really unfair”, was his response when asked if he had another campaign in him. They are the priority at the moment, those guys in the dressing room and the coaching staff. To talk about me is all wrong. I will leave that to other people.

The home side’s intensity and aggression in midfield was evident as they looked for an immediate response, though Poland’s sharp passing and pace on the counter troubled Scotland. I’m not going to disguise it, I don’t want to speak about it.

And in reference to the block tackle from Gordon Greer that went unpenalised a year ago, Lewandowski added further: “I hope the situation on Thursday is not the same as in Warsaw because after that foul by Greer I couldn’t run”.

“Poland are fully aware of what we’ve done against Germany and the confidence we’ll get from beating them”.

Lewandowski knocked the ball over on the stretch as the tension increased by the minute.

“It’s not something that I would say couldn’t work, that those two couldn’t play together”. The group of lads gave as much as they could give.

EVERY fibre of my being counsels against it, but I feel this Scotland side might just have one big performance in them.

“Although we had done our homework we never thought the Scottish players would play such a fantastic game”.

“You couldn’t call Poland’s second goal brilliant”.

It was his first competitive goal for his country but just like Fletcher he couldn’t smile about it afterwards given the agonising finale.

“What you have to respect is that there are a lot of people in the team who have done brilliantly in that area of the pitch. Hopefully in years to come we can do that with a great manager behind us”.

Strachan pointed to the first-half goals Germany scored last month, a deflected effort and a rebound off the post. It takes a horrendous deflection, hits a post and comes back the way. But why change the manager if you can’t get a better one and you won’t get a better one?

Strachan, speaking at the national stadium, said: “Ikechi is not going to make it, he has a tight calf so he has gone back to get treatment at Watford”.