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On May 17th, there will be three A League matches in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Panevėžys. In the capital, "Vėtra" will face "Nevėžis", "Ekranas" will host "Šiauliai", and "Kaunas" will play against "Sūduva". All matches were postponed from later rounds due to clubs' participation in European cup tournaments. Additionally, this Wednesday, "Vilnius" and "Žalgiris" will play the second leg of the LFF Cup quarterfinal.
Kick-off: 18:00
In the postponed matches from the 15th round, Vilnius' "Vėtra" will play against the championship outsiders Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis" at their home stadium. The clear favorite for the match is the Vilnius team, currently occupying the 4th place in the standings. In the last round, the Vilnius team played away against "Šiauliai" and the match ended in a draw: 0-0. On the other hand, the winless "Nevėžis" footballers were forced to admit the superiority of the "Kaunas" team with a 0-2 defeat. The first match between these teams in the 4th round ended with a 2-0 victory for "Vėtra", with both goals scored by the most productive Vilnius player, Sergejus Kuznecovas.
Kick-off: 18:00
A more interesting encounter awaits in Panevėžys, where the 3rd-placed "Ekranas" will play against the unexpectedly 2nd-placed "Šiauliai". Both teams have collected equal points - 12.
These teams have met earlier this season, with Panevėžys footballers being stronger in the 2nd round, winning 2-0. Goals were scored by Arūnas Klimavičius and "Ekranas" striker Mantas Savėnas. It's worth noting that after that defeat, "Šiauliai" have not lost a single game: they won 3 times and had 3 draws. Meanwhile, Panevėžys lost 5 points in the last two rounds: they lost 0-2 to "Vėtra" and played 0-0 against "Sūduva". An interesting match is expected in the middle of the field, where the teams are led by M.Savėnas and Ilja Galiūza. These players are also the most productive in their teams: both the leader of Panevėžys and the "Šiauliai" legionnaire have already scored 6 goals each in this championship.
Kick-off: 19:00
In the postponed matches from the 23rd round, the current league leaders "Kaunas" will face "Sūduva" who are in the 5th place.
This season, Kaunas started confidently: 7 wins in 7 matches, scoring 19 goals; in the 6th round, they beat ambitious Vilnius' "Vėtra" 4-0. Such a start allowed the country's vice-champions to establish themselves at the top of the table ("Kaunas" leads "Šiauliai" by 9 points). Meanwhile, the bronze medalists of the previous season, Marijampolė's footballers, currently occupy the 5th position.
The problem for "Sūduva" this season is their attack. Apart from 3 goals against "Nevėžis", the Marijampolė team managed to score only 3 times in 6 matches against opponents' goalkeepers. These gaps in the attack appeared before the season after the departure of Tom Radzinevičius from the team. The forward Artūras Fomenka, who was supposed to fill his place, did not establish himself in the team and has already left Marijampolė.
The first match between these teams ended in a convincing victory for Kaunas at 3-1 in the 7th round, with Andrius Velička scoring twice, Edinas Pehličius once, and Andrius Urbšys scoring a consolation goal for the "Sūduva" team.
LFF Cup quarter-final matches
Kick-off: 18:00
The matches scheduled for April 11th were postponed to May 17th due to poor weather conditions. After these matches, the final participants of the LFF Cup semi-final will be determined (the semi-finalists are already: "Ekranas", "Atlantas", "Sūduva").
The first match between "Žalgiris" and "Vilnius" ended in a 1-1 draw. In the match at the "Sportima" stadium, "Vilnius" took the lead after Mindaugas Panka's goal at the beginning of the match, but in the second half, Žalgiris' Igoris Morinas equalized the score. This time, the "Vilnius" club will be considered the home team, so they have a slight advantage thanks to the away goal scored previously.
It is interesting to note that this match will be the second encounter between these teams in 4 days. On Sunday, the Žalgiris team convincingly defeated the "Vilnius" club 3-0 as the away team, with two goals from Eimantas Poderis and one from Tadas Labukas. Nevertheless, a ticket to the Cup semi-final is much more important than 3 points in the A League championship. Wednesday's match will be a great opportunity for the "Vilnius" club to bounce back and a chance for "Žalgiris" to prove that their overwhelming victory was not a coincidence.
