Star players often come in for rough treatment when they face teams of lesser quality away from home.
And that definitely appeared to be the case on Sunday during the World Cup qualifier between Kazakhstan and Poland.
Robert Lewandowski was involved in a tangle with Kazakh defender Yeldos Akhmetov early in the first-half. The Polish captain attempted to hold off his opponent, and landed an elbow which led to Akhmetov drawing blood.
Lewandowski then restrained Bauyrzhan Islamkhan, and had a word with the Kazakh captain. It appears the Bayern Munich striker had enough of the opposition’s rough treatment, and was booked for the incident.
Poland carried a comfortable two-goal lead into half-time, with Lewandowski opening the scoring. However, Kazakhstan had the last laugh and equalised just before the hour after some good build-up play, and held on for a draw.
Adam Nawałka’s team are most people’s favourites to progress from Group E after conceding just two goals during Euro 2016 and suffering elimination despite not losing a game in 90 minutes.
Denmark top the group after the first round of matches after Christian Eriksen gave them a 1-0 win over Armenia, while top seeds Romania were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Montenegro thanks to former Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetić’s late equaliser.
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