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If anyone ever wishes for an example of constantly increasing pressure, the Polish league winners would perfectly fit the criteria. Now approaching eighteen years since Widzew Lodz became the last Polish club to reach the Champions League, the country is becoming more-and-more desperate to see one of its sides break the duck - the longest of any country to have had a club in the tournament proper.

Of the eight different clubs who have attempted to progress since Widzew during the 1996/97 season, many believe that the current Legia Warsaw team has the best chance of any to return to the promised land.

Now in their 99th year of existence, Legia's history doesn't even begin in Warsaw - but instead in modern-day Ukraine. A group of Prussian soldiers formed a club whilst on the front lines in World War One. Eventually they were forced to retreat to Warsaw, where they settled, taking the name of their new home.

Almost forty years passed before Legia were able to lift their first championship, but with the backing of the Polish army they quickly overtook rivals Polonia and Gwardia as the most successful club in the capital.

More titles came in the sixties and seventies, with the club even reaching the European Cup Semi Final in the 1969/70 season. With international stars such as Lucjan Brychczy and Kazimierz Deyna, Legia once again went through a small period of domination as Polish football entered its Golden Decade.

While they possessed many Polish internationals during the 1980s, Legia were unable to win any league titles. They were however able to win four Polish Cups, which ensured they didn't miss out on European competition. Finally they broke their 24-year duck by lifting back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995; the latter of these leading to a first Champions League appearance, where they eventually were defeated by Greek side Panathinaikos in the quarter finals.

Two more titles and a cup win in the noughties followed, before the club entered its most successful ever period: with domestic cup trophies in 2011, 2012 and 2013; and back-to-back league championships in 2013 and 2014; Legia just need one more thing to top it off.

After knocking-out both Welsh champions The New Saints, and Norwegians Molde; the loss to Steaua ensured Legia of a place in UEFA's second competition, the Europa League. But after a poor showing, which saw them win just one of their six games; as well as a first Polish Cup elimination since March 2010; coach Jan Urban was dismissed.

In his place, the Legia board looked towards ex-Norwegian international Henning Berg to revitalise the team. Despite worries that a change of coach would harm their chances of lifting a tenth league title, the Wojskowi only grew stronger - winning it at a canter.

If Urban and his staff had built a strong Legia team, then Berg's arrival took it to the next level. Over the course of the 37-game season they picked up an incredible fifteen points more than their nearest challengers Lech Pozna?, winning ten of their last eleven games.

While their last competitive outing - last week's Super Cup game with Zawisza Bydgoszcz - ended with an injury time defeat, Berg had fielded a mostly-second string team. Wishing to test his key players without risking injury, his mostly-first eleven had taken to the pitch against Israeli side Hapoel Be'er Sheva the night before.

So what exactly can St Pats expect from one of the strongest Legia sides in recent years?

Aided by defensive midfielder Tomasz Jodlowiec, Legia's back line managed to keep an impressive nineteen clean sheets in all competitions last term, and was key to their league title success. Centre-back pairing Jakub Rzeziczak and Dossa Junior impressed for large parts of the season, with Inaki Astiz able to step in to cover when needed. The defensive midfield cover also allows the full-backs - Tomasz Brzyski on the left, and either Bartosz Bereszynski or Lukasz Broz on the right - to get forward.

Chris Lash talks to Stephen Pollard about Legia Warsaw and what St Pats fans can do and expect when they are over to watch the Irish side compete against the Polish champions.

Behind them sits the last line of defence a Slovakian goalkeeper Dusan Kuciak. Despite missing seventeen games last season through injury, Kuciak was responsible for keeping thirteen of those clean sheets, and was voted as the league's best 'keeper at the end of the season.

As well as his more defensive duties, Jodlowiec is a constant threat from set pieces - scoring seven times last season. However he is far from an anomaly in a Legia midfield which contributed 49 of their 75 league goals.

Top-scoring with fourteen, Serbian Miroslav Radovic earned the title of the Ekstraklasa's top player for the 2013/14 season; with some commenting that, after the arrival of his Polish passport, he could be called into Adam Nawalka's national team.

While that has failed to materialise, one who has earned the call-up is young winger Michal Zyro. After breaking into the Legia first team in 2011, last year was his true breakthrough. With four goals in 23 appearances, he has been hailed as a star of Poland's future; and with regular talk of a big money move abroad, the club have reportedly rejected numerous bids in order to keep him available for their Champions League push.

With nine goals to his name, Michal Kucharczyk has also transformed himself from a bit-part player to a key member of Legia's squad; while cool-headed captain Ivica Vrdoljak has shown time-and-time-again how important he is to the club.

Although he hit ten goals on the way to Legia's second successive championship, Georgian striker Vladimir Dvalishvili has been given the hand to look for a new club by Henning Berg. And with one-goal Portuguese frontman Orlando Sa and 35 year-old Marek Saganowski set to lead the line this season, many critics thought that it wouldn't be difficult to identify Legia's weak spot.

But with the relegation of Zaglebie Lubin came the opportunity to sign one of Poland's most sought-after strikers, Arkadiusz Piech. After his fourteen goals in all competitions were not enough to prevent Zaglebie either from the drop, or defeat in the Polish Cup final, it was certain that the 29 year-old would be moving away from Silesia. As soon as Legia declared their interest in him, there was only one direction in which Arek was going to head.

After eighteen years away, the whole of Poland is desperate to be represented in the Champions League - even if it is by Legia, a team which is disliked in many corners of the country.

While that representation would likely do wonders for the stature of Polish football in both Poland and the rest Europe, qualification will have a much bigger impact on Legia themselves. It has long been said that the first Polish team to qualify for the tournament will dominate the Ekstraklasa for the foreseeable future. Legia are steadily building the infrastructure to do so; and needing only to fit the final piece of the jigsaw in place, it now just seems a matter of "when it happens" rather than "if".

POSSIBLE STARTING XI:

Dusan Kuciak - Bartosz Bereszynski, Dossa Junior, Jakub Rzezniczak, Tomasz Brzyski - Tomasz Jodlowiec, Miroslav Radovic, Ivica Vrdoljak, Michal Zyro - Arkadiusz Piech, Orlando Sa.

Ryan writes for sports website EKSTRAKLASAreview.co.uk, and can be found on Twitter here.