A veteran of UEFA EURO 2008 and one of the most experienced campaigners in Franciszek Smuda's Poland squad, Rafał Murawski has repeatedly impressed with his dogged enthusiasm in a defensive midfield role. He also passes the ball with precision and is a former Polish Cup winner and Russian champion.

• Born in Malbork, he played for a couple of local teams in Gdansk before launching his career in the Polish second division with Arka Gdynia, with whom he won promotion in 2004/05 but left to join KS Amica Wronki mid-campaign.

• Ever-present in Ekstraklasa for both Amica in 2005/06 and KKS Lech Poznań (with whom Amica merged) in 2006/07, he was absent just once for Lech in the 2007/08 season and won the Polish Cup with the club – his first major honour – under coach Smuda in 2009.

• Came on as a late substitute for his international debut – a UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying win in Belgium – and scored on his first competitive start, a 2-2 draw against Serbia in Belgrade a year later; made one start and one substitute appearance at the finals in Austria.

• Left Lech for FC Rubin Kazan in summer 2009, midway through the club's second successive Russian Premier League title-winning campaign, scoring one goal in seven appearances.

• Remained with Rubin for the 2010 season and played for the Tatar outfit in two UEFA Champions League campaigns, the first of them bringing a memorable 2-1 win at FC Barcelona, before rejoining Lech in January 2011.