The incredible transformation of Vilnius “Žalgiris” in the Conference League matches is resonating far beyond Lithuania’s borders.
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The popular German “Bild” portal on Friday at noon reported the “Žalgiris” adventures in the battle against Tbilisi “Dinamo” as the most important sports news.
“A huge European miracle: from 0:3 to 7:5!”, – declared “Bild”.
The German portal noted that after the first Conference League qualifying match in Tbilisi, where “Dinamo” won 3:0, almost no one believed that the Lithuanian team could advance to the third stage.
“It seemed dead, and then struck seven times! – “Bild” marveled at the resurrection of the Vilnius club. – A week after the 0:3 defeat in Georgia, the multiple Lithuanian champions Vilnius “Žalgiris” created a true football miracle.”
The German portal wrote that even the talented Tornike Kvaratskhelia could do nothing.
In the first match, this 16-year-old Georgian talent, the younger brother of Paris Saint-Germain star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, tormented the Žalgiris players with ball juggling.
Experts compare the young “Dinamo” winger to his famous brother, but the entire Tbilisi team experienced a nightmare in Vilnius.
“Bild” described in detail the course of goals in Vilnius, emphasizing that the “Žalgiris” ignited by the fans scored four goals in the last 20 minutes.
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“The celebration in Vilnius had no limits. After what seemed a hopeless 0:3 deficit, after 90 minutes of battle in Vilnius, the aggregate score turned to 7:5. The Lithuanians advanced to the third stage of the Conference League qualifiers and have already secured about a million euros from UEFA,” noted “Bild”. “Meanwhile, for “Dinamo” and the young Kvaratskhelia brother Tornike, their journey in Europe ended in the cruelest way.”
Poles also drew attention to “Žalgiris”
The Polish portal sport.pl noticed the incredible result in Vilnius and found a comparison for such a course of events:
“Can you imagine winning the first match by three goals, but still being eliminated over two matches? Yes, Poznań’s “Lech” demonstrated this in the Champions League qualifiers. On the other hand, “Aarhus” needed extra time and penalties.
- Poznań’s “Lech” won the first match in Denmark 4:1. In the second match in Poland, the Danish club won 4:1, celebrating victory in the penalty shootout 4:3 after extra time.
In the Conference League, Tbilisi “Dinamo” squandered such an advantage in regular time. After a 3:0 home win, the Georgians lost 2:7 to Vilnius “Žalgiris”, conceding four goals in the last 20 minutes.
In the first match, the Georgians scored their three goals in the first half, their trip to Vilnius seemed like a formality.”
The Polish portal reported that even after Mate Vatsadze’s goal in the 72nd minute, the atmosphere in the Vilnius stadium seemed cooled down, as then the Tbilisi players had reduced the score to one goal (2:3) and still had a two-goal advantage over “Žalgiris” in the aggregate score.
“There were 20 minutes left to play. What could go wrong?
Everything,” the Polish portal said, calling the last stretch a “20-minute nightmare” and describing the sequence of Žalgiris goals and the final triumph in the match 7:2 and the aggregate score 7:5.
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