Thursday in Tbilisi was extremely hot, and the streets were bustling. The 35-degree heat in the country’s capital became a common routine, but cool evenings were pleasantly refreshing.
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It seemed that the match between “Dinamo” and “Žalgiris”, scheduled to start at 9 PM local time, would not attract much interest. The confrontations between these teams, which had caused a great stir since the times of the USSR occupation, received significantly less attention this time.
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The fans gathered at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, which can accommodate 27,000 spectators, were far from filling even half of the stands. Local active fans were not particularly enthusiastic about supporting their team and spent most of the match chatting with neighbors or, with their heads down, engrossed in their phones.
Žalgiris fans, one could say, dominated the decibel scale for most of the match, so the Vilnius residents must have felt extremely uplifted even away from home.
However, the green-and-whites’ advantage ended at the last fence separating the stands and the pitch.
Žalgiris suffered in defense from the very beginning. Although Dinamo’s first attempts were unsuccessful, A. Skerla’s proteges created a rather good opportunity in the 8th minute. P. Golubickas passed the ball to Stanislav Bilenkiy, but his shot, after a deflection, went out of bounds.
After this episode, Žalgiris’ defense, as leaky as a sieve, began to crumble before their eyes.
In the 14th minute, Numan Kurdić scored, in the 26th – Leo Santos, and in the 30th – Nikoloz Ugrekhelidze. When the whistle for the end of the first half sounded, A. Skerla walked off holding his head.
Fans met in the corridor by 15min still believed in the team.
“We will definitely score at least one goal,” said one Žalgiris fan.
“The team looked lost in a half-empty stadium. What if they played in a full one? I hope the coach will motivate the team after the break,” said another fan.
However, the break did not bring any significant changes. Žalgiris lost 0:3, and on July 30th, they will face what is almost a Sisyphean task.
Dinamo has fast and technical players. Individually, they are a very strong team and caused us a lot of problems. We are taking a large deficit to Vilnius, but we will play in a packed home stadium and I hope for a completely different attitude
Going into the second half, trailing 0:3, the situation was a bit better. The opponent was calmer, we controlled the ball, but it was difficult to overcome them. Of course, we definitely created dangerous moments,” – said team strategist A. Skerla after the match.
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Before the match, the coach emphasized concentration errors. Was this one of the main reasons for the loss?
“You saw the goals. In two situations, the goalkeeper saved the team, but we are making mistakes somewhere. We are not close to the opponents, and they score three goals. It’s a pity because these are controllable situations,” lamented the strategist.
After the match, A. Skerla also praised goalkeeper Vincentas Šarkauskas. The goalkeeper, who saved several difficult shots, was, according to the coach, one of the few bright spots in this match.
However, the Vilnius defenders did not deserve such praise, as they were woven like warm wool by the young Georgian talent Tornike Kvaracchelija.
The brother of PSG star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia provoked fouls from Deividas Šešplaukis during the match, driving the defenders crazy. Danny Lupano was booked with a yellow card for holding an opponent’s shirt.
“We knew how he plays and what his strengths are. He surprises us a lot. He is only 16 years old, and he is already so physical and talented. Another Georgian star is growing. There were moments when he was not afraid of anything with the ball – he played aggressively, tried to attack. He has no fear,” A. Skerla praised the 16-year-old.
However, Žalgiris will have to stop more than just him. A crowd of almost 5,000 fans will be waiting in Vilnius, hoping for a fairytale comeback and the cherry on top – qualification for the next stage of the Conference League. July 30th will be a big day.
“We have to show character. Neither we nor the fans are satisfied with such a match. We know that the stands will be full, we know how we want to play. We want to win,” A. Skerla emphasized.
Whether they succeed, we will find out next week, but the start will not be from 0:0, but from 0:3.
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