'Road to paradise' clears for Brożek

Striker Paweł Brożek is confident that Wisla Kraków can at last realise their dream of reaching the UEFA Champions League group stage this term, with the Polish titleholders gearing up to commence their second qualifying round contest with Estonian club FC Levadia Tallinn on Wednesday.

Format change
Top scorer in the Ekstraklasa over the last two seasons, the 26-year-old believes the introduction of the Champions Path and Best-placed Path in qualifying will aid his team, who have fallen at the final hurdle to the likes of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF in the last five years. "We've been waiting for this for so many years and we've pushed so hard, but there's always been a bigger team to stop us," he told uefa.com. "Now, thanks to the change in the rules, the road to football paradise is a little bit easier and we want to take advantage of that."

Offer rejected
The prospect of mixing with the European élite has even been enticing enough to put ambitions of moving abroad on the back burner. Fulham FC expressed their interest in Brożek over a week ago but were rejected as Wisla want to tackle UEFA Champions League qualifying at full strength. "I'm not the kind of person who turns against his own club because I was not allowed to leave," said the Polish international. "I have Wisla deep in my heart and I'll do my best to help them qualify for the Champions League. Even if I feel ready to take the challenge and move to a bigger championship, I know how important it is for Wisla to finally succeed in this European battle."

Kmiecik landmark
Brożek is certainly no stranger to landmark achievements, having become the first player in 30 years to top the Polish goalscoring charts in successive seasons. "The last guy who did that twice in a row in the Polish league was Kazimierz Kmiecik, a real Wisla legend," he said, before setting his sights on the club's overall scoring record. "I think one day I will leave Wisla for a bigger team, but my big dream is to come back after a few years and try to hunt down Mr Kmiecik's record. He is Wisla's top scorer in the Polish league with 153 goals and I hope to catch him before ending my career. I even joked with him about it a few weeks ago. I told him: 'Be careful as I only need another 83 goals to equal your record.'"