© EuroFootball.com
Legendary Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium will have to wait for the return of A Lyga football. On Wednesday night, vandals desecrated the Lithuanian football sanctuary - stolen gates, dug up turf, broken reserve player benches.
The attack took place immediately after the Vilnius "Reo" club announced their return to the "Žalgiris" stadium. On the eve of the crime, "Reo" football players were still training on the freshly mown turf, but on Wednesday morning the stadium was already devastated.
"Everywhere there are dug holes, broken and stolen gates, torn nets, broken reserve player benches, smashed advertising boards," - 15min.lt quoted "Reo" club director Rytis Sabas, expressing regret for the damage caused by vandals.
On Wednesday evening, the A Lyga match between "Reo" and Alytus "Dainava" clubs was supposed to take place here, but after the attack, the match was cancelled.
"I don't know when they will take place. We will postpone them for a later time. It will not be possible to fix the stadium quickly. It will take about 10 days just to buy and bring new gates," - continued R. Sabas.
The stadium was not guarded.
According to the director of "Reo" club, the "Žalgiris" stadium was not guarded, but the vandals had to break into the locked stadium gates. "A lot of physical force was used," - said R. Sabas.
Therefore, it is suspected that there were at least ten vandals. The investigation was started by police officers who collected evidence at the scene on Wednesday morning.
"The vandals left no messages. I can't even imagine why they behaved like this. In general, it's the first time in the world I've heard of someone behaving like this: desecrating a sacred place - the stadium," - R. Sabas marveled.
Various versions of the attack are being considered. One of them is that the stadium could have been vandalized by the Vilnius city football society "Žalgiris" ultras who disagreed with "Reo".
The stadium belongs to ŪBIG.
More than 60 years ago, immediately after the Second World War, the "Žalgiris" stadium built by German prisoners of war currently belongs to the Ūkio bank investment group (ŪBIG). There were plans to demolish the stadium and build residential buildings in its place, as well as talk of reconstruction, but the legendary stadium remains abandoned.
Theoretically, up to 15,000 spectators (mostly in Lithuania) could watch matches here, but most of the seats are unusable.
Last year, the "Žalgiris" stadium suffered another blow - the long-time director Jonas Grigas passed away.
