Slovakia boss hails their defense against Lewandowski

After

2-1 victory against

Poland

, their boss

Stefan Tarkovic

has praised his team’s defensive line for neutralizing Poland’s high-profile striker

Robert Lewandowski

. It was Slovakia’s second victory in the European Championship as an independent nation, which was gained by Milan Skriniar’s winning goal in the 69th minute of their opening game.

Tarkovic says that they have been preparing themselves for the clash so responsibly, and that was the key to the victory for them.

Tarkovic told a media conference:

"I think the whole team played very well, we prepared for Poland's attack very responsibly and of course Lewandowski plays a decisive role in the final third.

"Skriniar did not personally mark Lewandowski, but the duels with him and other players such as Peter Pekarik and Lubomir Satka, I'm really happy they managed to neutralise such a great player as Lewandowski.

"After this win, there will be even more pressure to make it from the group. For me it wasn't really about the result, it was about showing what we are capable of. We will enjoy this win but tomorrow we are starting to prepare for Sweden.

"This means a lot for me, I think it means a lot for all the people that have prepared together with us, the coaching staff, everyone around the team.

"We spent three weeks together and we had time to focus on the things we wanted to concentrate on. There are still two difficult games for us but what's really good is that the co-operation is working and the players want to show the country of Slovakia and the fans that they want to fight for Slovakia."

The other key point in that game was Wojciech Szczesny’s own goal following Robert Mak’s impressive move, which led to the game’s opening goal and became the first time in the competition’s history that a goalkeeper is responsible for an own goal.

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