© EuroFootball.com
The Lithuanian football championship is gaining momentum and on Sunday the 5th round matches will be played in the A League.
In the first match in Vilnius, "Žalgiris" will meet Panevėžys' struggling "Ekranas". Last year, the matches between these teams received special attention due to the referees' decisions. In the first encounter between the two teams in Vilnius, "Žalgiris" coach Igoris Pankratjevas was dissatisfied with referee Vytautas Chileckis' work, leading to his disqualification. In September, when the teams met in Panevėžys, "Ekranas" celebrated a historic 4-3 victory, despite trailing 0-3 at one point. During that match, "Žalgiris" assistant coach Viačeslavas Sukristovas publicly questioned the competence and fairness of the referee Audrius Kancleris. Interestingly, A. Kancleris will also referee this match.
The "Ekranas" squad in Vilnius will still be missing the injured defender Taavi Rahno and the recovering Dainius Gleveckas. Defender Mindaugas Gardzijauskas will also be out for a month, but the injured Mantas Savėnas will be able to play against "Vilnius".
Žalgiris may finally have problems as defender Anatolijus Ostapas with knee ligament issues should make his debut. It is still unclear whether defender Aleksejus Dubina, who got injured in a match against "Vėtra" and was substituted, will be able to play.
It's interesting that "Žalgiris" has not been able to defeat "Ekranas" in the last 11 A League matches.
In Klaipėda, two teams at the bottom of the A League table will clash - "Atlantas" and "Interas". Although the footballers from the port city have only collected 1 point after 4 matches, it should be noted that they played against the top four teams of last season. "Atlantas" will have the recently added striker Nerijus Astrauskas making his debut against Visaginas, previously playing for Liepāja's "Metalurgs".
In Marijampolė, "Sūduva" promises a tough battle for the champions from Kaunas. Only Ottavio Braga will be absent from the Suvalkians in this match. In the previous matches, "Sūduva" managed to defeat "Vėtra" and play a draw against "Ekranas". The coach of "Sūduva", Algimantas Gabrys, invited fans to the stadium and promised a fierce fight and a positive result.
However, statistics show that Marijampolė's team has not yet defeated "Kaunas" since they started playing in the A League in 2002, and they have lost the last 10 matches against them.
The hosts should beware of champion striker Ričardas Beniušis, who has already scored 7 goals in 4 matches. "Kaunas", which had a difficult start to the championship, managed to beat "Atlantas" 4-0 in the previous round under the guidance of their new Bulgarian coach Angel Chervenkov.
Vilnius' "Vėtra", which has only collected 5 points in 4 matches, will seek victory against one of the underdogs, "Šilutė", in an away match. The Macedonians Bobis Božinovski and Dejan Miloševski are still unavailable for Vilnius. Meanwhile, the Croatian defender Marijan Budimir, who got injured during the match against "Žalgiris", will be ready to play.
In the 5th round matches, the teams of "Vilnius" and "Šiauliai" will meet, both having 6 points each. Vilnius will definitely be without defender Tadas Gražiūnas, who is recovering from a leg injury. There are still doubts about the possibility of Aivaras Laurišas playing.
Meanwhile, the team from Šiauliai will come to Vilnius trying to secure their third consecutive victory. In the "Šiauliai" squad, Mindaugas Lukoševičius, who missed the last two matches, and the young Mantas Kuklys, who suffered a minor injury, will be able to play.
5th round matches:
- Vilnius, 14:00. Referee - A. Kancleris
- Klaipėda, 16:00. Referee - P. Malžinskas
- Marijampolė, 17:00. Referee - S. Atmanavičius
- Šilutė, 17:00. Referee - D. Kančelskis
- Vilnius, 17:00. Referee - V. Kazlauskas
