© EuroFootball.com
The Lithuanian champion FBK "Kaunas" will defend the country's honor on Wednesday and start the battles in the first stage of the UEFA Champions League qualifying tournament. Tomorrow, the residents of Kaunas will travel to the Faroe Islands, where on July 13 at 21:00 Lithuanian time they will play against the Torshavn "HB" team, as reported by the official website of the Kaunas club.
As known, this year the strongest Lithuanian team from last year has an historic chance to meet the European champions - the team of "Liverpool", which received an exclusive right to participate in the Champions League qualification tournament. Therefore, if "Kaunas" manages to overcome the "HB" barrier, no one doubts that the football players of the Liverpool club would come to Lithuania.
The residents of Kaunas, knowing that the return match will have to be played on July 19 at 18:00 at the Vilnius "Vetra" stadium, prepared for the match in the capital. This happened because during that time the European Youth Athletics Championships will take place at the S. Dariaus and S. Gireno stadium, and the club from the Faroe Islands rejected the Lithuanians' proposal to exchange the venue of the match and play in Lithuania first.
18 "Kaunas" players are traveling to the islands, among which there will be two new foreign players - the 30-year-old forward Arkadiusz Klimek from Poland and the 23-year-old defender from Georgia, Nukri Manchkhava, who has already made his debut in the "A Lyga" championship. The team will also include defenders Mindaugas Bagužis and goalkeeper Nerijus Mačiulis, who represented "Šilutė" at the beginning of the season.
Unfortunately, there are also injuries - several players suffered injuries, including team captain Darius Sanajev, whose season is probably already over. "Kaunas" has already had problems due to injuries this season, with the best player of last year's "A Lyga", Andrius Gedgaudas, deciding not to renew his contract with the club, as well as Audrius Kšanavičius, who will likely move to another Lithuanian team.
Goalkeepers:
Šarūnas Kilijonas, Eduardas Kurskis.
Defenders:
Irmantas Zelmikas, Tomas Kančelskis, Nukri Manchkhava, Mindaugas Bagužis, Dainius Kunevičius.
Midfielders:
Giedrius Barevičius, Eimantas Poderis, Tomas Tamošauskas, Givi Kvaratskhelia, Nerijus Mačiulis, Tadas Papečkys, Tadas Kijanskas.
Forwards:
Ričardas Beniušis, Artūras Rimkevičius, Arkadiusz Klimek, Andrius Velička.
