© EuroFootball.com
According to reports in the Israeli media, Raimondas Žutautas, who recently ended his football career, will become an assistant coach to newly appointed head coach Itzhak Shum at the Vladikavkaz "Alania" club where two Lithuanians, Nerijus Barasa and Darius Žutautas, play.
Shum, a Jewish born in Russia, will be the third coach for "Alania" this season. The team is currently in 13th place in the Russian Premier League, only three points ahead of the teams in the relegation zone.
It is believed that Shum chose Žutautas as his assistant because they are acquainted. The 56-year-old coach worked for Haifa's "Maccabi" team three years ago, where a Lithuanian player was then playing. After Shum moved to coach Athens' "Panathinaikos" last season, Žutautas also moved to Greece.
32-year-old Žutautas ended his football career unable to recover from a serious knee ligament injury. This injury had plagued the Lithuanian for a long time - he experienced it in 2000, two years later the injury recurred in a famous match against "Man Utd," and last summer when the injury recurred again, the player tried to operate on it, but decided not to play after a few months.
Having started his professional career at Mažeikiai's "Romar," Žutautas then played for Gargždai's "Bangas," Klaipėda's "Aris" (now "Atlantas"), Kaunas' "Inkaras-Grifas" clubs, and gained his first experience as a legionary precisely with the Vladikavkaz "Alania" team. Žutautas played about 40 matches for the national team and was the team's captain for some time.
