© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday evening, the first mutual match of the teams of the "A League" of this year took place at the Vilnius "Sportima" arena - the country's champion and Vilnius met. Kaunas celebrated victory with a score of 3-1.
The friendly match was organized when it was revealed that the control match of "Kaunas" preparing for the Union Cup tournament against Liepaja "Metalurgs" would not take place, so Eugenijus Riabovas' team met with Vilnius "Žalgiris", which was still managed by club president Arminas Narbekovas.
The players of Žalgiris, including defender Marius Kazlauskas and legionnaire from Belarus Aleksejus Dubyna who were in the match, conceded the first goal - a goal scored by the former active "Kaunas" player Rafael Ledesma after a cross from Edin Pehlic.
At halftime, all the players were changed in the Žalgiris team, while "Kaunas" also made several substitutions. The game of both teams improved, however, in the middle of the second half, the score was surprisingly equalized with a head strike by Žalgiris' Aleksandras Romašovas.
However, the country's champions still proved their superiority and restored the lead for "Kaunas" after seven minutes with a header by Mindaugas Grigalevičius, and at the end of the match, Marius Činikas, who transferred from Kėdainiai "Nevėžis" in the offseason, added a third goal for the Kaunas team with a precise shot after a quick counterattack.
"Kaunas" convincingly won with a score of 3-1 and secured their second victory this year after defeating Riga "Olimps" in Latvia. According to the team's head coach Eugenijus Riabovas, the team focused more on training before the Union Cup matches and played too few friendly matches, as there were no opponents willing to play.
"We wanted to play better, the football we wanted to see is not there yet. Of course, there is fatigue because we did not prepare for the match, and training takes place twice a day. We were supposed to play in Liepaja today, but "Metalurgs" refused. We were supposed to play more matches, but there were simply no opponents during the vacation. It's good that "Žalgiris" agreed. On Thursday, we leave for Moscow, so until then the workload will decrease and I think we will look different. I believe everything will be fine," said the coach.
When asked about the new players in the team, E. Riabovas said that on Sunday Belarusian national team striker Vyacheslav Hlebas will join the team, and they did not rush to evaluate the game of Belarusian defender Oleg Strachanovich and Senegalese defender Pascal Mendy who participated in the match against "Žalgiris".
"They appeared for the first time today without training, after the vacation, so it is very difficult to evaluate. But for example, it is clear that the Senegalese player came from Moscow "Dinamo". He knows how to take his place on the field, knows when to jump, when to catch the ball, is technical. He will be needed for "Kaunas"," said the "Kaunas" coach.
