Why Robert Lewandowski is not playing for Poland vs Netherlands at Euro 2024

Poland will have to make do without their captain (Picture: Getty)

Poland will have an almighty fight on their hands to get out of the so-called ‘Group of Death’ at Euro 2024.

The Poles have been drawn in Group D alongside France, the Netherlands and Austria.

And their quest to reach the knockout stages suffered a blow even before they kicked a ball in Germany, with news that star striker Robert Lewandowski is unlikely to feature in their opening game against Holland.

The Barcelona star has been named among the substitutes but is not expected to feature. Instead, the task of putting the ball in the back of the net will fall to Adam Buksa who leads the line this afternoon.

Why isn’t Robert Lewandowski playing for Poland today?

Lewandowski is not starting for Poland vs the Netherlands due to a thigh injury.

Lewandowski is sidelined with injury (Picture: Getty)

The Barcelona star picked up the injury in a 2-1 friendly win over Turkey on Monday and was withdrawn after 33 minutes.

‘Lewandowski suffered a rupture of the biceps femoris muscle, which will exclude him from the first match of the tournament,’ Poland said in a statement.

‘We are doing everything so that Robert can play in the second match against Austria.’

The 35 year-old is Poland’s all-time leading goalscorer having found the net 82 times in 150 games.

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Lewandowski has featured at five major tournaments for Poland to date, having scored seven goals in 18 appearances on the big stage.

Lewandowski scored 26 goals in 49 games in all competitions for Barcelona last season.

Poland’s second Euro 2024 game is against Austria on June 21, before wrapping up their group game against France on June 25.