A. Tapinas: "We learned valuable lessons from a European-level team"

2026-08-07 09:47 © E. Žaldario

Vilnius "Žalgiris" had an extremely unsuccessful start to the battle in the third stage of the UEFA Conference League.

On Thursday, the capital city's club lost 2:5 at home to Split "Hajduk" and virtually lost all chances of advancing.

The loss was not dramatized by "Žalgiris" president Andrius Tapinas, who emphasized that the club’s journey has just begun.

"We learned valuable lessons from a European-level team. Their players are individually stronger and do not forgive even the smallest mistakes, of which there were plenty today.

One can think about what would have happened if we had gone into halftime with a draw, but the quality would still have tipped the scales. Even in a certain crisis, Hajduk is a beast of a different level.

But we did not shut ourselves in a blind defense, we combined, went on the attack, lifted the stadium to its feet twice, and shot at goal ten times.
I feel a bit sad today, but I’m not ashamed.

As I said, the house of Vilnius Žalgiris has just begun to be built. A lot of work awaits Andrius Skerla, even more for Giedrius Klevinskas, and next week we will fly to Split to play beautifully.

Thank you to everyone who came to the stadium today and stayed until the 75th minute,” wrote A. Tapinas on his social media account.