L. Varanavicius explained why the 'Žalgiris' player was expelled from Cyprus.

2024-08-03 12:50

Passions continue to run high on social networks following the Vilnius "Žalgiris" team's exit from the Conference League qualifiers.

The capital's club lost 0:3 to the "Pafos" team after extra time and had to end its performance in European tournaments.

After "Žalgiris" made public one of the key moments of the match – the red card received by Y Zahari in the 37th minute – the fans of the Vilnius club began to wonder about the referee's excessively strict decision.

However, all the dots were put on the "i" by the former LFF president Liutauras Varanavičius, who wrote in a comment:

"The last player, with only the goalkeeper behind him, clearly trips up. There's no question about the foul, and according to the rules, there's also no question about the card – it's clearly written.

One can debate that the referee could interpret the game and perhaps not issue a red card, but if it's 'purely by the book', then there's no question.

Look at the players' positioning – the second player is 4-5 meters further away, so it's clearly a 'last hope foul'.