PZPN

Friday's press conference began with ... a hand game rock-paper-scissors, a game which was actually not needed .... Milik and Zieliński were fighting over who would be the first to respond to journalists' questions. However, both players quickly agreed to speak with one voice.

– We are young players and we do not remember many previous major tournaments with the participation of the Polish National Team, but we perfectly know that we’ve never been successful in the first matches of the tournament. However, we will not relate to them, because our team is completely different now. We have a lot of very good players in our team, a new head coach and in the qualifying games we proved that we can play really good football. We are conscious that many things, maybe even everything, will depend on our first performance of EURO 2016 campaign. That's why we focus only on the battle with Northern Ireland. We go step by step – Milik said, and Zielinski only added - Victory over Northern Ireland would have helped us, would have brought a lot of confidence – “Zielek” added.

Players let out that they do not feel the atmosphere of a great football festival yet, but they are looking forward to the opening ceremony of the tournament, and above all, to the first match of the Polish National team. - We are in a beautiful and peaceful place, in which generally people do not talk about the championship. That's good because we can focus solely on training sessions and we can have a rest. We will feel real tournament emotions just before the meeting with Northern Ireland. Obviously there will be also more Polish fans – Milik with Zielinski added.

Both players ensured that they are already prepared for the first battle and they hope to play its role in the team. - We worked harder at the training camp in Arłamów, what actually could be seen in the match which we played against Netherlands. Later we reduced the team training overall workload and in the match against Lithuania we played better, even if the result may not fully reflect it. However I assure you that now I feel very well and I am one hundred percent ready to play. I can’t wait. For the first time in my life I will be a part of such a tournament. It gives me a great joy – Arek Milik said, Piotr nodded and added: - Sometimes it was happening to me that I had two or three passes in the game which I played badly and I was giving up. I try to work on it, I try to clear my mind and help the team as much as I can. I know I have great skills and I want to prove it.

Milik: – It doesn’t matter to me how many goals I will score in this championship. The most important thing is to win the first match. I am a player who can adapt to the team’s playing style and appropriate tactics. I can play as a left or right midfielder, as a number 10 or a striker. The most important thing is to get the chance, I will do everything to help the team.

Both players underline that in the first match this is the victory that only counts. We are not interested in goalless draw. – We know that the Northern Ireland team will be hard to break, they are hard-working and effective in the centre of the pitch, and they know how to apply extra pressure on the opponents. This is the difficult task that awaits us on Sunday, but we really want this moment to come. We are prepared, ready and eager to start the EURO and we know that all depends on us – Milik and Zieliński finished.