Lithuania's national football team coach and players after the victorious match against Estonia claimed that the opponents led them into a challenging game, but the most important thing is that they managed to secure the second win.
Saulius Mikoliūnas, Lithuania's national team defender: "I don't feel like a hero, because heroes are the fans who came to support and the team that tried not to disappoint Lithuania. I managed to score this time, maybe next time someone else will succeed. I received a good pass from Deivydas Matulevičius, just needed to put my head and direct the ball to the goal.
We analyzed the Estonian team well, knew that they are a disciplined team, physically well-built players, dangerous in set pieces. After the match, we sang "Lietuva, Lietuva," but didn't celebrate much, as we need to prepare for the next matches."
Arvydas Novikovas, Lithuania's national team defender: "In the first half, we dominated, it was obvious. In the second half, we faltered in some places, fatigue showed. But we won and that's the most important.
In the beginning, I gained confidence in my abilities, as I managed to play well one-on-one multiple times, opponents were afraid of me. In the second half, they doubled the defense against me, but later I moved to the middle of the field and they couldn't catch me anymore. It was great that Mikoliūnas scored a goal.
We only thought about victory. After the first half, we said we shouldn't rush and press only at the end. After the goal, we were a bit pushed back, but the result was satisfying. Today the atmosphere was very good, I saw it for the first time."
Deivydas Matulevičius, Lithuania's national team forward: "Very good emotions, we are happy that we managed to win. I think we deserved it. Playing at home, we wanted to control the ball more, and we did. We created several chances, I had some of them. I didn't score, but it's good that the team scored after the break. When we scored, we pulled back a bit, wanting to maintain the lead. We started to rush a bit.
The atmosphere in the team is great. We earned six points, but this is just the beginning. The next match is in just three days. We will aim to win again. In this group, we can expect various surprises."
Vytautas Andriuškevičius, Lithuania's national team defender: "The whole team gifted a victory on the occasion of my birthday. We are very happy with these three points. It was tough for both the Estonian team and us. In the second half, we got a bit tired. These matches were until the first goal. The most important thing is that we held on till the end and have six points.
It's very nice to be back in the game. Now the most important thing is not to think about victory. The Slovenians won against the Scots, so it will be really hard."
Tadas Kijanskas, Lithuania's national team defender: "We knew it would be a challenging game, a lot of fighting. We studied the Estonians well. In the last matches against the Slovaks, they played awkwardly, tried to defend, used their strengths - set pieces, crosses from the sideline. That's what we expected.
The Estonians don't allow you to play freely, we're not Brazilians dribbling the ball. It was difficult to create, but all the guys are good. It felt like we were a team, had to adjust when the game didn't click. The most important thing is that we achieved victory. The game slipped away, we will just study the mistakes.
Sometimes it's like today, towards the end we pulled back and tried to protect the result. There was a certain sense of fear, we tried to defend. Would have liked a better, mature game, it didn't go as planned this time, but the most important thing is that we have three more points in the account. Three goals scored, zero conceded. We march forward optimistically."
