When these sides last met in September, it was a chastening evening for Romania as they fell to a 6-0 defeat.
That was part of a disappointing start to this Nations League campaign for the Tricolorii, with them losing all four matches prior to kick-off here. As such, keeping things tight against their former conquerors early on was paramount and, to their credit, they were solid before the break.
Admittedly, the hosts had the edge in terms of possession and territory, but aside from Wiktor Nowak’s speculative hook – which flew wide – and an acrobatic Robert Lewandowski volley over the bar, they created little. In fact, the only shot on target of the opening period fell the way of Romania on the brink of half-time, when Bartlomiej Dragowski pushed Tudor Baluta’s attempt at the back post behind for a corner.
Having navigated the opening 45 minutes well, Romania appeared full of confidence after the restart. Vlad Dragomir’s had the first shot of the half, and although it was a comfortable save for Dragowski, the hosts’ second effort produced what seemed to be the opener when Florinel Coman’s deflected shot wrong-footed Dragowski.
However, rather fortuitously for Poland, the goal was ruled out as VAR spotted a foul from Andrei Ratiu on Sebastian Szymanski in the build-up.
Eventually, though, Romania had the goal their positivity deserved. It was similar to Coman’s disallowed effort, as Jakub Kiwior deflected Alexandru Cicaldau’s low shot past Dragowski, only this time there was no reason to chalk it off.
Before long, they were two to the good, carrying out a well-worked counterattack that Dennis Man finished with aplomb. They should have put the game to bed when another break found Ianis Stoica, yet he missed the target altogether.
Poland made the most of that reprieve, halving the deficit with a little under 10 minutes remaining through Marcel Regula’s header from close range.
That set up a tense climax for the partisan crowd in Bucharest, yet Romania were able to see out the game and secure the win.
As a result, Gheorghe Hagi’s outfit moved to within a point of their opponents as they look to avoid a relegation play-off. Poland, meanwhile, have won just one of their past eight games in all competitions, with this result also ending their three-game winning head-to-head run.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marcel Regula (Poland)
