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Football fans, no matter how bizarre it may sound - quite often is a phenomenon even in our country. Great respect deserves football enthusiasts supporting their city team, who gather in stadiums, even if their beloved team is not Vilnius "Žalgiris", Marijampolė "Sūduva" or Panevėžys "Ekranas", but Gargždai "Banga", Tauragė "Tauras", or Alytus "Dainava". However, the majority of Lithuanians are not satisfied with the level of football in our country, so their gaze turns to the strongest football leagues in the world and there is nothing strange in that.
And yet, what is sought on the Western football front? Beautiful football or beautiful results? Sadly, but most European football giants fans calling themselves Lithuanians are content just looking at the tournament tables, with the game itself taking a back seat for them.
It's no secret that the biggest fan armies in the world are held by Spanish super clubs - Madrid's "Real" and "Barcelona". If we were to conduct a survey in Lithuania, we would see that these teams are the most beloved in our country. However, if we were to inquire before the survey how often our interlocutor watches football or follows the news and discard those who only sporadically hear football results by chance on the news, the survey results would fundamentally change.
I don't mean to say that only those who are not interested in football support "Barcelona" and "Real". That's certainly not the case. These clubs in Lithuania have serious fans who have been loyal to their beloved teams for ages. Other powerful European football clubs like London's "Arsenal", "Liverpool", Turin's "Juventus", A.C "Milan", or Munich's "Bayern" also have a similar number of serious fans in our country.
What is that number? Very very low. We still live in Lithuania, far from Munich, Milan, Liverpool, so it's not surprising that there are not many fans strongly attached to one football team here. Even if a person actively follows the news and often watches Champions League matches on TV6 channel, they will decide to tune into their "beloved" "Manchester City" team's regular matches in the English "Premier" League only if they accidentally see that 6 goals have been scored in the first half of the match. There will almost always be such "fans" who, upon hearing about ongoing matches in any "Facebook" group, will inquire if they are not broadcast on LNK or Pūko TV.
If we were to ask a Lithuanian who is minimally interested in football or a Lithuanian who considers themselves a big football fan which football team is their favorite, we would almost always hear that it is "Barcelona", "Real", or at best - "Manchester United". There is probably no need to wonder about this either. It's not surprising that people who are not very interested in football or are just starting to show interest tend to flock to the trends, beautiful faces, or resounding results.
The worst happens when these "fans" engage in discussions with others. There is nothing left but to grab your head when a fan of "Barcelona", "Real", "Manchester United" or "Manchester City" tells a fan of "Arsenal", "Liverpool", "Tottenham", "Newcastle", "Valencia" or Madrid's "Atletico" that they don’t understand how one can support such a "failed", "never winning titles", "at the bottom of the tournament table" team.
Don't look for brains where it's not worth it. If you want to resemble a football referee and sympathize with "Barça" or the "Red Devils", and not with "Šiauliai" or "Atlantas" from Klaipėda, please, you will certainly not commit any sins here, but please, don't show overtly that you're doing it not because of the football itself, but because of the sweet victories.
