“In my concept, every good footballer will play, and I consider Kuchta to be one. He is simply a complete, good, even very good striker,” M. Papszun told GOL24, and Jan Kuchta answered with his first goal for Legia Warszawa in a 4:2 friendly win over Pogoń Grodzisk Mazowiecki. The forward had been waiting since August for that first goal in Legia colours, and he also added an assist in a lively second-half spell.

Kuchta's first goal for Legia

Kuchta arrived in the summer transfer window from Sparta Prague on a one-year loan, and this was the kind of cameo that gives a manager a reason to keep saying the same thing in public. Before the friendly, he had made six Ekstraklasa appearances and recorded two assists, so the end product was there, just not the goal.

Papszun's line about quality was backed up in a way that is hard to miss. Kuchta was involved late, the sort of brief spell where touch and timing matter more than volume, and his first Legia goal arrived after a wait that stretched back to August.

Žewłakow and the late response

The other name from the friendly was Jakub Żewłakow, who came on in the 75th minute and soon scored after a pass from Kuchta. Weszło said Žewłakow then assisted Kuchta in the 95th minute to make it 4:1, while GOL24 put the goals at Žewłakow in the 83rd minute and Kuchta in the 96th.

That is the cleanest way to read the two reports, because the exact minute order differs, but the shared point does not. Legia's returning attackers combined well enough to turn a friendly into a useful lift, and Bartosz Kapustka was part of the wider rotation around them.

Legia sit third in the Ekstraklasa with 24 points from 14 matches, so the club is still in a live league race when these fringe minutes matter. Kuchta's first goal does not settle anything about his season, but it does give Papszun a public example of the striker he has been backing, and Legia return to competitive work with that cameo on the record.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →