Poland 6-0 Romania: Lewandowski Hat-Trick and an Early Red Card Wreck Hagi's Side in Warsaw
- 🔑 Poland beat Romania 6-0 at Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw on Friday, October 2, 2026, in UEFA Nations League 2026-27 League B, Group 4, Matchday 3. Robert Lewandowski scored three, Romania’s Virgil Ghiță added an own goal, and Piotr Zieliński and Jan Bednarek scored once each, giving Poland its first win of the group.
- Romania’s Radu Drăgușin was sent off before halftime, around the 22nd minute by most match reports, for a foul on Lewandowski in the area. Lewandowski scored the penalty in the 24th minute, and Romania played about 70 minutes a man down. Opinion on the decision was divided; we do not rule on it.
- Lewandowski scored his seventh Poland hat-trick and reached 92 international goals in 170 caps. Sports outlets report he is the oldest player to score a hat-trick in Nations League history, at 38 years and 42 days, passing Cristiano Ronaldo’s 34 years and 120 days from 2019. We could not find UEFA’s own wording.
- A late first-half yellow card was Lewandowski’s second of the campaign, after one against Sweden on September 28, and Polish media, citing a federation spokesperson, report an automatic one-match ban. He is reported to miss Poland’s trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, October 5, at 2:45 p.m. ET.
- As of October 3, 2026, after Matchday 3, Sweden lead Group B4 on seven points, ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina on five, Poland on four and Romania on zero. Romania have lost all three games, scoring three and conceding 12. Both Matchday 4 games on October 5 were unplayed when we wrote.
- Romanian outlets reported manager Gheorghe Hagi protesting the penalty during the match, but after the final whistle he took responsibility for the defeat, and Drăgușin apologized in a statement. Swiss referee Urs Schnyder took charge in front of a reported 51,054 fans. No betting odds, spreads or win probabilities appear anywhere on this page.
Poland beat Romania 6-0 at Warsaw’s Stadion Narodowy on Friday, October 2, 2026, with Robert Lewandowski scoring a hat-trick after Romania’s Radu Drăgușin was sent off in the first half. The UEFA Nations League 2026-27 League B, Group 4 game kicked off at 2:45 p.m. ET (20:45 local time) and gave Poland its first win of this campaign. Lewandowski, who now plays for MLS side Chicago Fire, reached 92 international goals, though a booking means he is reported to miss Poland’s next match.
What was the final score and who scored in Poland vs. Romania?
Poland won 6-0, with Lewandowski scoring three, Romania’s Virgil Ghiță adding an own goal, and Piotr Zieliński and Jan Bednarek scoring once each. Here is the full goal list, as shown in match data and matched across several match reports:
| Min | Scorer | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 24' | Lewandowski (pen.) | 1-0 |
| 47' | Lewandowski | 2-0 |
| 49' | Ghiță (own goal) | 3-0 |
| 62' | Zieliński | 4-0 |
| 66' | Bednarek | 5-0 |
| 86' | Lewandowski | 6-0 |
Four of the six goals came between the 47th and 66th minutes. Nicola Zalewski is credited in several match reports with the assist for Lewandowski’s second, and Ghiță turned the ball into his own net two minutes later. Swiss referee Urs Schnyder took charge in front of a reported crowd of 51,054, and the match produced five yellow cards in total, two for Poland and three for Romania.
When was Radu Drăgușin sent off, and how did Romania react?
Drăgușin was shown a direct red card before halftime, around the 22nd minute by most match reports, for a foul on Lewandowski inside the penalty area, and Lewandowski scored the resulting penalty in the 24th minute. A few reports list the dismissal at the 20th, 24th or 28th minute, and we could not load UEFA’s own match report to settle it, so treat the exact minute as approximate. Romania played about 70 minutes with ten men, and Romanian outlets reported that manager Gheorghe Hagi made a substitution in the 27th minute after the red card.
Reaction was mixed, and we are not ruling on the call. Romanian outlets reported that Hagi was visibly angry with the referee during the match, and some Romanian commentators criticized the decisions in strong terms. Others disagreed: a former Romanian referee and a retired Polish referee each said the penalty and red card were correct under the Laws of the Game. After the match, Hagi said he was primarily to blame and that the game slipped away in a short spell of goals, according to Romanian media, and Drăgușin issued a statement apologizing to teammates and fans.
What records did Lewandowski set against Romania?
Lewandowski scored his seventh international hat-trick and his 90th, 91st and 92nd goals for Poland, and he is reported to be the oldest player to score a hat-trick in UEFA Nations League history. At 38 years and 42 days, sports outlets say, he passed Cristiano Ronaldo’s 34 years and 120 days, set in Portugal’s 2019 semifinal against Switzerland. The ages check out against his August 21, 1988 birth date, but we could not find UEFA’s own wording for the record, so we keep the hedge. He now has 92 goals in 170 caps, and this was his second hat-trick against Romania after a 3-1 win in Warsaw on June 10, 2017.
Will Lewandowski play against Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 5?
No, he is reported to be suspended, because his late first-half yellow card against Romania was his second of this Nations League campaign, which brings an automatic one-match ban. His first booking came against Sweden on September 28. A Polish football federation spokesperson reportedly confirmed to a Polish outlet on October 3 that he had left the squad’s camp. Poland play at Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica on Monday, October 5, at 2:45 p.m. ET (20:45 local time), and the ban covers that one match only.
Where does Group B4 stand after Matchday 3?
As of October 3, 2026, after Matchday 3, Sweden lead Group B4 on seven points, ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina on five, Poland on four and Romania on zero. Every team has played three games, and Poland’s goal difference of +4 is the best in the group, though points come first.
| Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden | +3 | 7 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | +2 | 5 |
| Poland | +4 | 4 |
| Romania | -9 | 0 |
This table will change after the October 5 games.
What happens next for Poland and Romania?
Poland visit Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, October 5, and Romania host Sweden the same evening, both at 2:45 p.m. ET (20:45 CEST). Neither game had been played when we wrote this, so we report no result from either. Poland then travel to Romania on November 14 and host Sweden on November 17, the final matchday. For how Romania’s campaign unraveled before this game, see our recap of their 2-4 loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bucharest on September 28.
How we verified this
Final score and goals were checked against a UK sports broadcaster’s match page, a US sports network’s match page, a match-data site, Wikipedia’s competition page (which draws on UEFA data) and around ten match reports from international, Polish and Romanian outlets. All agree on Poland 6-0 Romania, with Lewandowski at 24 (penalty), 47 and 86, an own goal by Virgil Ghiță at 49, Zieliński at 62 and Bednarek at 66. UEFA’s own match page and full-time report could not be loaded, so the minutes rest on those secondary sources. Two summaries differed on details (a different minute for Bednarek’s goal and a different own-goal scorer); we followed the competition data and the majority, and the page does not use either outlier.
Red-card minute (sources conflict). Most sources, including match-data sites and Romanian and Polish reports, put Drăgușin’s dismissal at the 22nd minute; a few give the 20th, 24th or 28th. The penalty at 24 is consistent everywhere. We wrote “around the 22nd minute” and flag it as approximate.
Referee and attendance. Urs Schnyder (Switzerland) is confirmed by the competition data page, a match-data site and several reports; one live blog listed a different name, which we treated as an error. The 51,054 crowd comes from a match-data site and Wikipedia’s match entry, and a Polish outlet’s “51,000+” is consistent with it.
Lewandowski’s totals and the record claim. The 92 goals in 170 caps and the seventh hat-trick match Wikipedia’s international goals list, Polish public radio and a sports-news site; his goals in this match were numbers 90, 91 and 92, and some live-score sites call the first one “his 90th” rather than giving the total. The “oldest Nations League hat-trick” claim comes from two sports-news outlets and neither cites UEFA directly, so it is worded as reported. We confirmed the ages arithmetically from his August 21, 1988 birth date and the 2019 semifinal date. The second-hat-trick-against-Romania line comes from Wikipedia’s hat-trick table.
Suspension. The one-match ban after a second yellow card (Sweden on September 28, Romania on October 2) was reported by several Polish outlets, and one reported a Polish football federation spokesperson confirming his departure from camp. UEFA’s own page was not readable, so the line is worded as reported and covers only the October 5 match.
Referee-decision reaction. The Hagi, Drăgușin and referee-opinion items were read in Romanian-language reports and one Polish-language report and are paraphrased, not quoted. We found no VAR review or neutral-expert analysis, and the page does not judge the red card or penalty. Only one assist (Nicola Zalewski on Lewandowski’s second) is named because other assist claims conflicted. Expected-goals figures from a single source were skipped.
Group table was recomputed from the six results (Poland 0-0 Bosnia and Herzegovina; Sweden 2-1 Romania; Romania 2-4 Bosnia and Herzegovina; Sweden 3-1 Poland; Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1 Sweden; Poland 6-0 Romania) and matches Wikipedia’s table. It is pinned to after Matchday 3, October 3, 2026.
Still moving at write time. Matchday 4 (October 5, 20:45 CEST) had not been played; no result from it is reported, and the table and suspension line will go stale afterward.
No betting odds, spreads, or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page.