After celebrating the birth of his third child, O. Verbickas: the team kept their promise

2024-09-24 08:00 © E. Žaldario

"Žalgiris” coach Vladimiras Čeburinas was pleased with the attacking line after the crushing victory against "Kauno Žalgiris,” while captain Ovidijus Verbickas, who welcomed a new addition to his family, thanked his teammates for the victory and the opportunity to score.

In the match against the Kaunas team, the Vilnius squad was leading 4:0 after the first half and won the match 5:0.

"Bravo to the Žalgiris players. What we prepared for with the players was evident in the first half. We showed the kind of play we needed. I can’t say the opponents didn’t have chances. They had three or four good moments. That’s just how football is,” said V. Čeburinas.

The coach also congratulated the team captain’s family on their new addition – on Friday, Ovidijus's wife gave birth to their third daughter.

"Emotions are the best – a new addition to the family, the team also fulfilled what they promised before the match – to gift a victory. All the goals were dedicated to my wife and daughter. Thank you to the team for those goals, for that victory. We are all celebrating together,” O. Verbickas said, celebrating his first goal as if cradling a baby – "All the goals were for my wife. Just that first celebration was emphasized to show that we are like one big family, everyone cares for me, and we all celebrate together.”

According to O. Verbickas, the plan for the Vilnius team to start the match very actively paid off. "I think that aggression worked. That's why we earned that penalty. We scored the first goal and didn’t stop playing afterwards. You could feel that motivation and desire in the team. We need to keep going like this,” said the midfielder – "These matches are definitely among the best this season. As our administrator Linas joked – maybe your wife should give birth more often so the team would play this well. Great match, we are all very happy. We need to keep moving forward and think about our points, collecting them all in order.”

In the last few matches, "Žalgiris” has scored several penalties. When asked what this is due to, V. Čeburinas replied: "We manage to play sharper, the opponent starts to make mistakes. That is very pleasing. Today there were many good combinations. Both those that ended in goals and those that didn’t. Today the attacking line played very well.”

The first penalty for "Žalgiris” was converted by L. Antalis, but he allowed O. Verbickas to take the second.

"You can’t plan these things. Of course, I really wanted to score. The team also saw that and trusted me. We trust all the players who take penalties. We are one team, one family. They trusted me, and it just remained for me to fulfill it,” said the team captain.

After returning from injury to the starting lineup, Paulius Golubickas scored a goal and provided assists but ended the match with his head bandaged.

"Paulius is an aggressive player, and opponents play against him like that. Sometimes even violating the rules. He is fearless. On the one hand, we are happy about that, but at the same time, we want to keep him healthy. It's not always possible. But he needs to play. He creates a lot of danger for the opponent's defense. He is a good creator. We are happy to have him,” V. Čeburinas said.

After this victory, "Žalgiris” has a 7-point lead over their closest pursuer "Hegelmann.”

"We try not to look at the results elsewhere. We try to collect our points because everything is in our hands. We don't look at the opponents; we play our game. We need to collect our points and become champions,” emphasized O. Verbickas.

On Friday, "Žalgiris” faces another match at home, this time against Alytaus "Dainava.”