have an almighty fight on their hands to get out of the so-called ‘Group of Death’ at .
The Poles are contesting Group D alongside France, the and .
And their quest to reach the knockout stages suffered a blow even before they kicked a ball in Germany, with sustaining an injury just days before the start of the competition.
The legendary striker sat out the defeat to the Netherlands on Sunday, and has only made the bench for today’s game vs Austria in Berlin.
Why isn’t Robert Lewandowski playing for Poland today vs Austria?
Lewandowski is not starting for Poland vs Austria today as he continues his recovery from a thigh injury.
The Barcelona star picked up the injury in a 2-1 friendly win over Turkey on June 10 and was withdrawn after 33 minutes.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 at the time.
‘We are doing everything so that Robert can play in the second match against Austria.’
Despite being unfit to play, Lewandowski took his place on the sidelines for the clash with the Dutch and was seen supporting his teammates in Hamburg.
The 35 year-old is Poland’s all-time leading goalscorer having found the net 82 times in 150 games.
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 wrap up their group campaign against France on June 25.
