© EuroFootball.com
In Šiauliai, UEFA Europa League first qualifying round matches took place, where FC Šiauliai and Tallinn's Levadia teams faced each other. In the second leg match, Šiauliai had to fight hard to achieve victory in order to advance to the next round.
They managed to win, unfortunately, the result of 2-1 was more favorable to the Levadia team. Due to the away goal scored, Tallinn's Levadia advanced to the next round.
After the match, Šiauliai's head coach Gediminas Jarmalavičius struggled to find words: "It's hard to speak after such matches. I'm not saying that Levadia was stronger. However, if they are moving forward, it means they were better in some way. Speaking about their goal. Leaving a player free who scores with his head. It's our mistakes, lack of attention. We should have scored a goal at the beginning of the second half, we had a good start to the second half. Unfortunately, in the middle of the half, there was a big breakdown in the team, we thought about making some corrections, but all the players assured that they felt good and could play. Later everything fell into place and the quality of the game improved again. If we had scored a goal at the beginning of the half, it would have been much calmer. Perhaps we should have made changes earlier. I can only congratulate Levadia and wish them luck."
"It's strange to celebrate after a loss. Šiauliai looked really good, it's nice that we passed this barrier. Šiauliai played as we expected, the only young guy (ed.note Tomas Birškys) was a surprise, as he didn't play in Tallinn. We were a bit weaker especially in the first half, but the goal significantly changed the situation. I am very proud of my guys for earning this ticket to the next round," said Levadia coach Marko Kristal.
