Irish Daily Mirror

CENTURION ROB WANTS TO RIGHT THE WRONGS

- BY PAUL O’HEHIR

ROBERT LEWANDOWSK­I wins his 100th cap tonight and the Bayern Munich ace will hope to put ‘belligeren­t’ Ireland to the sword.

Lewandowsk­i (above), 30, remains one of world football’s deadliest predators but is a man on a mission on Wroclaw.

Poland had a miserable World Cup in Russia, finishing bottom of their group after defeats to Senegal and Colombia. A narrow win over Japan did not soften the blow and Lewandowsk­i was under fire after drawing a blank on the big stage.

Manager Adam Nawalka (inset) was sacked and replaced by Jerzy Brzczek and Poland opened their Nations League campaign with a 1-1 draw in Italy last week.

Brzczek insists Ireland’s on-and-off-field problems are just that – no concern of his.

The new boss said: “We cannot think about

Ireland’s troubles and we also know that the Irish people are very proud and belligeren­t.

“You cannot hope to win games without the full engagement of the players. To think differentl­y would be a massive mistake.

“We will play a 4-4-1-1 system which will be very similar to Bologna. Ireland’s style of playing means that it’s going to be a different match compared to Italy.

“Ireland will be very determined, especially after their last match against Wales when the result was not good.

“That will motivate them additional­ly and will want to erase the effects of this bad match.

“They will be very aggressive and sharp and will be a much tougher game than we have experience­d so far.”

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