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One of the biggest intrigues of all the matches in the last round of the 6th group stage awaits on Tuesday at the Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium, where the local team will host the Tallinn "Levadia" club in a crucial match for survival in the tournament.
Vilnius "Žalgiris" Stadium, 17:00 Baltic Football League 6th round matches Vilnius - Tallinn Referee: Romans Lajuks (Latvia)
The first leg match ended in a 1-1 draw on March 7. "Levadia" players took the lead after Indrek Zelinski's penalty kick, but a long-range strike in the second half leveled the score, and Eimantas Poderis helped "Žalgiris" secure a point.
Aleksejus Dubina, who has missed seven Lithuanian championship matches for "Žalgiris" this season, should be ready to play, but the main goalkeeper Ernestas Šetkus missed the match against Marijampolė's "Sūduva." Defender Raimondas Vilėniškis, who missed the last matches due to suspension, returns to the team, but this time another defender, Julijanas Bursukas, will not be available due to the same reason. His place on the wing should be taken by Virmantas Lemežis if he recovers from injury.
In the match against "Sūduva" on Saturday, the "Žalgiris" snatched a 1-1 draw in the last minutes of the game and currently holds the fourth position in the "A League" tournament table. Prior to that, "Žalgiris" also played to a 1-1 draw - Klaipėda's "Atlantas" took advantage of chief coach Arminas Narbekovas’ attempt to play with three defenders and managed to secure a point away from the capital.
This season, "Žalgiris" has secured 5 wins in the league, played 5 draws, and suffered 1 loss. The team's top scorer is captain Igoris Morinas, who has scored 4 goals while playing more in the defensive line and sometimes taking on the role of an attacking leader due to the lack of very efficient strikers. Defender Edvinas Lukoševičius has scored three times, while the attacking duo of Nikolajus Misiukas and Valerijus Mižigurskis have scored 3 and 2 goals respectively.
Meanwhile, the "Levadia" club, where Lithuanians Vitoldas Čepauskas and Marius Dovydėnas play, and former "Žalgiris" player Algimantas Briaunis works as a goalkeeper coach, has almost no problems in camp - the team only lacks their main right-back Tihon Shishov, and 18-year-old attacker Nikita Andrejevas should be back with the team, having returned from the European Youth Qualifying Tournament in England.
Last Wednesday, "Levadia" won the Estonian Cup - in the final, the Estonian champions crushed Narva's "Trans" team with a score of 3-0. In the Estonian championship, the Tallinn club has won three consecutive games and, with 32 points, shares 1-2 positions with the other city club, Tallinn "TVMK."
"Levadia" coach Tarmo Rüütli almost always plays with the usual four defenders, and in the midfield, the club has one of the strongest pairs in the country - the versatile Konstantin Vasiljev and the more defensively minded Aleksandr Dmitrijev, who can control the game pace in the midfield.
In the match against "Žalgiris," these two players in the midfield should be joined by set-piece specialist Konstantinas Nahkas, and likely the lone striker will be Indrek Zelinski, who is the team's top scorer this season with 9 goals. Atsas Purje has scored seven goals, Tarmo Kinkas five, and K.Vasiljevas four.
"The winner takes it all. It will be very difficult for us to earn points away against Vilnius "Žalgiris" - to achieve that, we will have to work together as a team. A draw would satisfy us, but we are not thinking about that. The team will focus not only on defense but also on creating opportunities and scoring goals," said "Levadia" assistant coach Igor Prinsas.
"Our goal is to reach the next stage. We have delayed it for too long, but everything is still in our hands," said defender K. Nahkas.
"Levadia" will have enough of a draw because the Tallinn team has scored one more goal than "Žalgiris." If the match ends in a draw, the Estonian club would advance to the next stage due to a better goal ratio, so "Žalgiris" will need a victory.
Probable starting line-ups: "Žalgiris": Marius Rapalis; Edvinas Lukoševičius, Bertrand Ngapounou, Igoris Steško, Marijan Choruži; Virmantas Lemežis, Anatoliy Ostap, Eimantas Poderis, Igoris Morinas; Nikolaj Misiuk, Valerijus Mižigurskis "Levadia": Artur Kotenko; Deniss Malov, Andrei Kalimullin, Marek Lemsalu, Vitoldas Čepauskas; Maksim Smirnov, Konstantin Nahk, Konstantin Vassiljev, Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Vitali Leitan, Tarmo Kink; Indrek Zelinski
