© EuroFootball.com
The Vilnius "Žalgiris" club can open a new page in the country's football history - today the urgently convened UEFA Emergency Situations Committee, led by Michel Platini himself, will decide whether to grant the Lithuanian vice-champions the right to compete in the group stage of the Europa League.
Although Žalgiris lost the first leg match against "Salzburg" 0-5 and practically buried their hopes of advancing to the group stage based on sporting principles, the door to further progress should be opened by the removal of Istanbul's "Fenerbahce" from European cup tournaments for two years.
The Turkish club earned a ticket to the Europa League group stage by eliminating "Salzburg" in the third round of Champions League qualifiers and falling to London's "Arsenal" in the fourth round. However, the results of the Istanbul team involved in the match-fixing scandal are unofficially reported to be annulled this afternoon, with their place in the group stage being handed over to "Salzburg".
Given that the Austrian team is likely to secure their place on their own by overcoming "Žalgiris" with a combined score, against whom they will meet for the second time this evening in Vilnius, one of the two tickets will be transferred to the Lithuanian club. It has been publicly debated that the favor might smile not upon Žalgiris, but on another Turkish team, but this scenario practically becomes unrealistic due to the fact that in such a case, the privilege would be given to a club unrelated to the situation, which is also participating in the qualifiers. Furthermore, a practically analogous scenario favorable to "Žalgiris" was applied by UEFA a few years ago when replacing the compromised Kharkiv "Metalist" club.
At the same time, the position of "Žalgiris" is strengthened by the fact that the team did not essentially have to face "Salzburg" as it was eliminated from the Champions League due to the illegal participation of another club. It is worth noting that "Salzburg" also turned to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking clarification on whether they should be returned to the Champions League qualifiers.
