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In the first leg, the Knights unexpectedly outscored Northern Ireland’s Derry City 3: 2 after overtime, but this time they bounced off an opponent of much higher caliber.
The image that took place in the square is perfectly reflected in the statistics: shots towards the goal 10-15, shots into the goal area 4-10, corners – 3-9, fouls – 20-6.
From the first minutes, the Czechs were quick to show that they reached Vilnius with a clear goal. The pressure from the guests grew with each passing minute until finally Slovan managed a successful smile. Tomas Dombrauskis missed a penalty in the 11th minute that would have leveled the teams.
The match referee, Norway referee Espen Escas, questioned for a moment, but looking at his assistant, he decided to show the penalty spot. Guinea’s defender, Kamso Mara, made no mistake and the Knights found themselves in the role of pursuers.
Ten minutes later, Slovan’s beautiful attack ended with a powerful shot from Slovak Jakub Hromada in the lower corner of the goal and dealt a heavy blow to the ambitions of the Vilnius people.
A few minutes later, Martin Koscelnik fired a long “bomb” into the hosts’ goal. The ball bounced off the crossbar about half a meter, but returned to the field, and the referee of the duel did not notice the goal and the result did not change on the scoreboard.
The first change of T. Pikkarainen was already signaled in the 40th minute that the match was not going as planned. Matas Ramanauskas replaced Lajo Traore, one of the leaders of the Knights, who was very often wrong.
This time Blankokas was also the hero of the first “Knights” match in Europe Gytis Paulauskas, who suddenly became Antanas Paulauskas in the official match protocol this time.
And even in such a bleak match, the hosts were able to relive the intrigue. In the 61st minute, Angelis Lezama was about to put another goal for the visitors when, after entering the center, he fired from the edge of the area, but his shot went over the crossbar.
After breaking through the Czech defense, the Knights struck remarkably. Mindaugas Grigaravičius forced the goalkeeper to hit the goalkeeper a couple of times, Rokas Filipavičius shot dangerously from the distance.
But there was an idea: the deflected ball turned into a cross towards Michaelas Rabušičius, who was waiting for him in the area. The only remaining minutes were formally infused by Abdulla Yusufas and Jan Matoušek’s counterattack was impressive and was only stopped by a shocking foul.
Photo by Rokas Lukoševičius / 15min / Tommi Pikkarainen
After the duel, Knights strategist T. Pikkarainen admitted that a stronger team had won and advanced Thursday night, but had much criticism from his men for their attitude.
“It was the worst half I have seen working here in Vilnius. At the beginning of the game, the team was afraid of something, we missed two goals and we had no arguments. The positive is that after the break we came out in a much better mood. to my men from the beginning of the duel. We fought every meter, we put pressure on our rivals, we scored and we were very close to leveling the score “, the Finns summed up the match.
Pikkarainen did not score the lost goals at the end of the match, after which the opponents’ advantage became overwhelming.
“I think it didn’t matter anymore, because those goals didn’t mean too much. The most important thing is that the team showed character, it was close to the leveling goal and I would very much like the students to show that state of mind, humor and enthusiasm for the rest. of the season, where we will continue to fight not only in league A, but also in the cup tournament. I would like not to see a video like it was in the first half of the match, “said T. Pikkarainen.
Slovan coach Pavel Hoftych was satisfied with the victory and admitted that his team laid the foundations for this victory already in the first half, when he scored two goals and came very close to the third.
“We played well in the first half and those two goals helped us a lot. We scored a third goal, but the match referee didn’t notice it and the assistant didn’t point it out either. The second half of the 20 minutes, when the opponents scored a goal, It wasn’t really easy, but our third goal helped the point, ”said P.Hoftychas.
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