Orlando Sá leaving the pitch without his manager's permission may symbolize the end of the Portuguese striker's adventure at Legia Warsaw.
The former Porto and Braga marksman again stole the headlines as the Polish season ended with mixed emotions for Portuguese players.
Marcin Ostrowski rounds up an eventful campaign for Portugal's many exports in Poland's Ekstraklasa league.
Sunday afternoon in Warsaw was hot and the streets looked sleepy and deserted as many locals traditionally spent the Corpus Christi long weekend out of town. Looking at the half empty stands of Legia's stadium you wouldn't guess the local team were playing their final game of the season with the championship still at stake.
Theoretically, Legia could have secured their third league title in a row on that day, but the overwhelming feeling was one of resignation among the home fans when the game against Górnik Zabrze started. Legia's bitter rivals Lech needed just one point to take title to Poznań and they were playing against Wisła Cracow, who didn't even have chance of a Europa League spot anymore. Hardly anyone expected Wisła were going to "die" for Legia in their last game before the holiday and Lech Poznań had a stronger team anyway.
Legia, who have been heavily criticized for their rough style of play in the last couple of months, started the game fluently, as if the almost lost title campaign took the pressure off the players. Orlando Sá played from the beginning, which was never obvious in 2014/15 season. Despite being Legia's top scorer with 13 league goals, the Portuguese striker started only 15 of 37 top flight games this season, coming on from the bench on another 11 occassions.
Attitude problem?
His relative lack of first team action became one of the endlessly discussed topics in Warsaw's pubs. There was a strong suspicion that it was not a matter of form: Sá scored one goal every 122 minutes on the pitch - the highest frequency in the league. Legia manager Henning Berg never criticized his player, but "insiders" reported that he didn't like the Portuguese's attitude and that Sá felt he was too good for the Polish league.
Then, suddenly, in the last game of the season, Legia fans could see the Henning Berg / Orlando Sá bittersweet saga in a snapshot. In the 23rd minute the Portuguese striker got injured and asked to be substituted. Berg immediately instructed his substitute striker, Marek Saganowski, to warm up quickly. Sá didn't wait for his substitute though, leaving the pitch at the first opportunity. The Norwegian manager looked confused, trying to make his player get back on the pitch but Sá didn't react. Legia had to continue with ten players for a while.
It all looked like a somewhat chaotic and sad Orlando Sá farewell with Legia Warsaw. After losing the title to Lech Poznań, Henning Berg's position may not be very strong, but it's clear the club will back the manager in this kind of player misconduct. Just as season finished, Polish media started to report on offers for the controversial striker. Chinese club Hebei China Fortune looks like possible destination for Sá. It's a kind of paradox that the same club bought Legia's best player, Miroslav Radovic, only half a year ago and it was exactly Radovic who often played as Legia's lone striker last autumn at Sá's expense.
Other Portuguese players in Poland
- Legia Warsaw is one of clubs who consider second place as a big failure so players picked their runner-up medals with no satisfaction, as fans chanted "Next season we want to see you on the throne". Achievement or not, the second place was gained with the participation of not only Orlando Sá (26 games / 13 goals), but also midfielder Hélio Pinto (18 games / 1 goal) and injury prone defender Dossa Junior (9 games / 3 goals).
- The most succesful Portuguese player in Polish Ekstraklasa was Śląsk Wrocław forward Flávio Paixão, who scored 18 goals in 37 games. Flávio, who is generally considered less talented than his twin brother Marco, enjoyed a very succesful year, finishing second on the list of the league's top scorers. Meanwhile Marco Paixão didn't fully recover his form after injury, scoring 6 goals in 20 games this term. Śląsk finished 4th and qualified for the Europa League.
- Zawisza Bydgoszcz looked almost relegated after the autumn round of the season, with only 9 points after 19 games. This year their form was impressive though - 29 points in 18 games making them 5th most succesful team in this period. It was, however, not enough to survive in the top flight. Zawsza finished 15th despite their astonishing comeback. Portuguese trio André (33 games / 2 goals), Mica (21 games / 4 goals) and Alvarinho (32 games / 8 goals) impressed fans and experts and it would be no surprise if these players join stronger Polish clubs in the next couple of months.
by Marcin Ostrowski, editor of sport.canalplus.pl website.
Follow Marcin on Twitter @seixalense.
