Haraslin's multilingual skills helped Slovakia to get upper hand over Poland

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia midfielder Lukas Haraslin's multilingual skills helped his team to frustrate Poland's attacking tactics during their opening Euro 2020 Group E win on Monday.

Haraslin was able to understand Poland's game plan after learning some Polish during his five-year stint with Lechia Gdansk.

When Plan A did not work for Poland, their players tried to switch to Plan B by passing instructions in another language. Unfortunately for them, Haraslin foiled those plans as well.

"There was a situation where (Polish defender) Kamil Glik was telling (team mate Grzegorz) Krychowiak where he was going to run," Haraslin told the daily paper SME.

"I immediately warned my team mate Tomas Hubocan to be wary (of the move). When Glik heard me, he switched to French. But I understood that too, because it is similar to Italian.

"I told him 'Kamil, I understand you anyway'. So he left it," added Haraslin, who joined Serie A side Sassuolo last year.

Slovakia, who surprised a Robert Lewandowski-led Poland team 2-1, will face former champions Spain in their next match on Saturday.

(Reporting by Robert Muller, editing by Pritha Sarkar)