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Today, the grand final of the LFF Cup was played, with Vilnius "Žalgiris" and "Šiauliai" competing.
After a fierce battle that required extra time, the victory in the penalty shootout was claimed by the capital's footballers.
In the fifth minute of the match, "Šiauliai" player Arminas Vaskėla scored the first goal. However, just eight minutes later, the score was equalized by "Žalgiris" goalkeeper Andro Švrljuga. In the 34th minute, "Šiauliai" took the lead for the second time in the match with a goal from Marko Rašo. In extra time, the Vilnius players once again equalized the score - Andrius Skerla scored a goal.
After four goals in the first half, spectators did not see any accurate strikes in the second half. The result was 2-2 and the teams started playing extra time. During the first extra time, the teams exchanged another goal - in the 92nd minute, "Žalgiris" took the lead after Vedran Gerco's goal, but four minutes later Tomas Birškys equalized the score again.
During the second extra time, no goals were scored, so the teams had to go to penalty kicks from the 11-meter mark. "Žalgiris" started the penalty shootout. "Šiauliai" goalkeeper Paulius Pocius saved the first penalty taken by Andro Švrljuga, however, as the shoot-out progressed, "Žalgiris" goalkeeper Armantas Vitkauskas saved penalties taken by Niko Tokičiaus and Deivydas Lunskis, securing the trophy for his team.
"Šiauliai" fought for the last spot from Lithuania in the Europa League competitions. The other three spots were already taken by teams from the previous season: the country's champion Panevėžys "Ekranas" earned the right to play in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, while the winners "Žalgiris" and Marijampolė's "Sūduva" earned spots in the Europa League.
"Žalgiris" 3 - 3 "Šiauliai" (Penalty shootout 11-10) 5' [0 - 1] A.Vaskela 13' [1 - 1] A.Svrljuga 34' [1 - 2] M.Rašo 45' [2 - 2] A.Skerla 91' [3 - 2] V.Gerc 98' [3 - 3] T.Birškys"
