3 goals, 21 shots, 70% possession: Brescia still lose to Lubin

"We gave them everything we had, but football doesn't always reward you." Rodrigo Gonçalves, Brescia's best player on the night, spoke with the honesty of a man who had run 13.7 kilometres and still ended up on the losing side. His goal, his five key passes, his three shots on target — none of it was enough. Brescia lost 3-2 to KGHM Zagłębie Lubin at the Mario Rigamonti, and the 14,826 who came to watch were left to wonder how.

How does a team have 70 per cent of the ball, take 21 shots, hit the woodwork, win 10 corners, and still lose? How does a team create three clear-cut chances and score only twice while the visitors score three from 13 shots? How does a goalkeeper who has started 12 times this season — Mansa Ouologuem, signed from Alavés in August — end up picking the ball out of his net three times? These are the questions that will haunt Brescia. The expected goals tell the story: 3.35 for Brescia, 3.14 for Lubin. Fine margins. But margins are all that matter.

Brescia were already without Davide Aprile, the regular left midfielder with a fractured toe, and they lost Riccardo Santi on the stroke of half-time to a broken collarbone — the club confirmed on Friday he will be out about 39 days. That forced Gino Bandinelli on, and to his credit he provided two assists. Fernando Azcona, introduced on 51 minutes, scored one and dribbled with intent. But Lubin had Krzysztof Zalewski, who scored one, made one, created three chances and ran himself into the ground. The Polish side, well known at home but hardly continental royalty, defended with 17 fouls and one yellow card and took their chances when they came.

Brescia's strike partnership of Matteo Di Fiore and Mauro Tognon — a duo that had started nine games together this season — was kept quiet. Di Fiore had five shots but an expected goals of just 0.51; Tognon had three shots worth 1.3. The chances came, but the finish did not. And when you are chasing a game against a side content to counter, every miss feels heavier.

This is a Brescia side that had won respect on the continent, but respect does not buy you points. The group is now alive with possibility, and the Italians have made life harder for themselves. Lubin, meanwhile, will travel home with a famous scalp and the knowledge that they can hurt anyone.

The hard facts are these: Brescia had the ball, Brescia had the chances, Brescia lost. The hard question is why. And the hard answer is that football, for all its numbers, still belongs to those who put the ball in the net. Lubin did it three times. Brescia twice. That is the whole story.