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Today, after playing the second leg of the Intertoto Cup, it became clear that despite losing to the "Egaleo" team from Athens with a score of 2-3, Vilnius "Žalgiris" advanced to the tournament semi-finals because they defeated their opponents last week in Greece with a score of 1-3.
In the fourth round of the European Cups, no Lithuanian team had played yet, so this was a historic result. The best Lithuanian achievement so far was last year's third round reached by Vilnius "Vėtra".
The next opponents of Vilnius will be determined tomorrow after the match between "Saint-Etienne" and Kluž's "Ecomax". The first leg in Romania ended in a 1-1 draw.
Vilnius 2 - 3 Athens "Egaleo" (First leg 3-1, total score 5-4) 3' [1 - 0] Virmantas Lemežis 33' [2 - 0] Igoris Morinas 40' [2 - 1] Prokopios Saganas 45' [2 - 2] Ioannis Chloros (penalty) 51' [2 - 3] Ioannis Chloros (penalty)
"Žalgiris": Leus; Mikuckis, Gražiūnas, Stonkus, Sorokinas; Maksimovič, Šilo (69' Osipovič), Jasaitis, Lemežis; Jašurek (90' Tereškinas), Morinas
In the first leg in Greece, under unusual circumstances, "Žalgiris" won - the "Egaleo" team's coach fielded a youth team, and the Vilnius team defeated the opponents 3-1. Rumors spread that an agreement was reached after the first match, and the Greeks had already arrived in Vilnius to compete with a slightly stronger lineup.
The hosts started the game actively and threatened the opponents' goal in the first attack, but Karolis Jasaičio's attempt from 16 meters went wide. Shortly after, the Žalgiris team took the lead - in the third minute after a pass from the left side, V. Lemežis headed the ball into the net.
"Žalgiris" continued to control the game and tried to attack - in the sixth minute, Lemežis' shot went wide of the goal, and a few minutes later, after a corner kick, Tom Mikucki's header was just off target. In the 20th minute, Jasaitis' penalty shot was saved by the goalkeeper, and in a dangerous Greek attack, a free "Egaleo" player attacked with his head but didn't cause any major problems for Pavel Leus.
In the 31st minute, "Žalgiris" doubled their lead - Andžejus Maksimovičius broke through on the wing, passed the ball into the penalty area, and there, Igoris Morinas, left unmarked, scored from a few meters. The hosts were comfortably ahead, but soon became complacent and were punished.
After conceding two goals, the "Egaleo" team started playing more actively, and in the 40th minute, they had to painfully retrieve the ball from their own net - the Vilnius goalkeeper unsuccessfully tried to clear the ball from the opponent, and Prokopias Saganas managed to lob the ball towards the goal in the chaos happening in the penalty area, and Leus couldn't save his team again.
"Žalgiris" was shaken, and a minute later, the visitors had another chance to score, but this time, the goalkeeper and defender combined their efforts to contain the opponent, whose shot went wide of the goal. In the 44th minute, receiving the ball in the penalty area, the Greek turned and shot straight at P. Leus.
The first half ended particularly poorly for the hosts - after a penalty in the penalty area, the "Egaleo" team's captain Ioannis Chloros equalized the score. The teams went to rest with a 2-2 tie flashing on the scoreboard of the "Žalgiris" stadium.
After the break, "Žalgiris" threatened the opponents' goal, earning a couple of corner kicks, and in the second half, after only three minutes of controversial play, the Ukrainian referee V. Godulyanas awarded another penalty to the hosts, which was taken by I. Chloros, leaving P. Leus little chance - the visitors were already ahead, and they only needed to score once to advance to the next stage.
In a precarious position, the Žalgiris players stepped up a bit, but Jasaičio's shot from 15 meters once again missed the target by a bit. The game calmed down gradually, and midway through the half, "Žalgiris" was saved by the crossbar when Saganas hit a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Soon after another attempt by "Egaleo" player missed the target, tension began to rise, but "Žalgiris" tried not to give in to the opponents - in the 70th minute, after two corner kicks for the Greeks, they managed to defend themselves one way or another, and four minutes later, after a free-kick from 30 meters, Jasaitis struck powerfully, but once again missed the target.
In the last fifteen minutes, the Vilnius team successfully defended against the Greek attempts to attack, so "Žalgiris" despite the nervy defeat advanced to the next stage and silenced the club's critics who claimed that the outcome of this match was clear and the Greeks would win with the required advantage.
