POLAND captain Robert Lewandowski believes tomorrow's Euro 2016 match with Scotland is more important than their first ever victory over World Cup winners Germany.
Poland won on Saturday courtesy of two breakaway second-half goals - from Arkadiusz Milik and substitute Sebastian Mila - with the second, at the death, sparking jubilation in Warsaw's National Stadium.
But Bayern Munich striker Lewandowski - who had a disappointing night by his standards - has warned his team-mates the victory will count for nothing if they slip up against the Scots at the same venue.
He said: "We made history, but it's still only three points. If we lose against Scotland, we will have only picked up three points from the two matches and that's not enough.
"There is no secret that Germany will win this group easily and our biggest rival for second place is Scotland. That's why it is so important we beat them on Tuesday.
"I thought we were very effective against Germany. We did not create many opportunities, but when we had chances we took them. We have to take a great deal of confidence from that - that's what happens when you beat the world champions. Possibly, we gave Germany too much respect at first, but with each passing minute I thought 'hang on, we can win this and make history'. And we did."
Germany did, however, batter Poland for large spells of the game and missed a host of chances, particularly just before half-time.
Bayer Leverkusen debutant Karim Bellarabi missed three opportunities, while Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels should have scored too. Substitute Lukas Podolski's volley hit the bar at the close.
The Poles defended brilliantly, particularly Torino centre-back Kamil Glik. And when goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made a rare error of judgment to allow Milik to nod the ball over him - conceding his first goal in 705 minutes, since Ikechi Anya scored against him for Scotland in Dortmund - the home fans sensed an upset, confirmed by Mila late on.
Germany's Arsenal striker Podolski admitted: "We played much worse against Scotland and got the win. The Poles scored twice from counter-attacks and we must look at what went wrong."
Adam Nawalka, the Poland manager, was given a standing ovation by Polish journalists when he arrived to talk after the game. He said: "Possession is overrated. We are very pleased with the result, but now we must think about Scotland. Our aim remains qualification from this group. We have six points out of six and we want nine out of nine after we play Scotland.
"We spent a long time constructing a careful tactical plan to beat the world champions and I have to give my players enormous credit for carrying out those instructions perfectly."
It is premature to draw any conclusions on the state of the new German team given the large number of injury absences, including Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Ozil and Marco Reus to name but a few.
The retirements of Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose and Per Mertesacker mean experience is in short supply, with 25-year-old Thomas Mueller being the most-capped player in the starting lineup on Saturday.
Manager Joachim Loew started without an out-and-out striker and with Thomas Mueller up front - a similar situation to the early stages of the World Cup.
Bellarabi added plenty of pace down the flanks but failed to score from the good chances he created for himself. Mario Goetze, who also plays as an occasional forward, equally lacked the final touch.
With only one natural forward, Borussia Moenchengladbach's Max Kruse, in the squad but on the bench on Saturday, Loew will have to come up with a more effective plan if they are to beat Ireland in Gelsenkirchen.
"We just failed to score and given the number of chances we had it was a joke," defender Hummels said.
With three points from two qualifiers so far, Germany are well aware this is a long campaign and a maiden defeat by Poland, however damaging to their pride, is not a disaster.
"It was just not our day," Goetze said. "On Tuesday, we will win, get the three points and the table will look a lot different."
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