M. Kalnietis facing a new challenge in Europe: 'Now we need our results to speak for us'

2026-07-03 12:00 © zalgiris.lt

What is the mood like inside the organization after the recent changes, when you dismissed coach Ervinas Černiauskas and specialist Željko Sopić arrived from Croatia?

• The mood is such that the upcoming matches on Friday are highly anticipated, and also on Tuesday, heading towards Europe, which should be extremely interesting. The mood after a coaching change is usually from sadness to the players wanting to show their best side to the new coach, so that fighting spirit and energy within the team should be present. It is very important how much the coach will want and be able to change things, as there is a very fine line, because you cannot make drastic changes in a short time, and the players must think less about how to please the coach or adapt to his philosophy; they just need to enjoy the game.

Among all the candidates, you chose Željko Sopić. What impressed you most about this candidate, and why did you choose him?

• I would start with the fact that when we were looking for a coach, we wanted it to fit our club's philosophy. From the very beginning, we wanted to be the team that scores many goals, dominates the field, and uses pressing, so the candidates were chosen based on these criteria. If we ask coaches and players to be bold, not to choose safe options, I personally wanted a coach who, despite his risks, has seen more and this gives us an opportunity to learn more and form a broader view of football, rather than opting for the safer choice that keeps us at the same level. We wanted something that had not been in Lithuania before.

As I understand, the contract is longer than until the end of this year?

• Yes, we have a contract until the end of this year and for the next season as well.

The period during which you managed to hire a coach was eight days before the Champions League qualifiers. Are you satisfied with this, or did you expect to sort this out earlier?

• Of course, this is a lesson for us. The timing wasn't the best. When we parted ways with Ervinas (Černiauskas), we wanted the new coach to arrive as soon as possible, but those negotiations took longer, the searches took longer. Several specialists refused to come due to Lithuania and the infrastructural conditions, but we have what we have. There are only a few days left, and now we need to squeeze everything in.

So far, what has been the most memorable moment with Žalgiris in Europe?

• I would distinguish both a good and a bad moment. I remember when we played against "Valur" and many fans in Lithuania, according to the established mentality, thought we would just go there to hold on, to defend the result, since we played to a 1:1 draw here, we would go to penalties and similar, but we attacked away, we shot on goal, and that led us to victory – that's the good side, and on the bad side, the matches in Bulgaria stuck in my mind. There I saw that we lacked international match experience, I saw that we were not psychologically prepared. Those red cards came out of nowhere, we lost concentration and didn’t play football. It is similar this year, where I am afraid of provocations, and we discussed this with the coach. We need to learn from those lessons.

When watching the draw as a club, do you set certain priorities about what you could get? There is still potentially the strongest and potentially the weakest opponent, or do you see all opponents as equal?

• It is, of course, clear that there are priorities; this is normal. Speaking generally, against any opponent, we still need to play on the field and prove everything there, but it’s normal that one team is stronger among those options while another is potentially weaker. This year, for example, we didn't want to face the champions of Romania or Kazakhstan, so "Drita" is an opponent that is definitely beatable, but turning the carousel, the most important is how we will be, so that will depend the most. We cannot control the draw, but we can control our game, which is the most important.

Are you preparing anything different for these matches in terms of the spectator experience?

• I think that our event happening during regular TOPLYGA matches can sometimes be more impressive than what we play. There won't be much else done specifically for these matches, but we always have options for activities for both children and various age groups of fans, as well as food options. We won’t come up with too much. Now we need the results to speak for us.

What is the final situation regarding the "Pitbull" concert, which will take place around the same time as your further battles in Europe? Would you have to move to Jūrmala regardless of whether the second stage awaited in the Conference League or the Champions League?

• If it's the Champions League, we will definitely need to move from home. If it’s the Conference League, we would again try to exchange with the opponents. We would try to give that conditional home advantage away. Others count and think about extensions and penalties, but I don't believe in those things; we would try to play the first match in our own stadium.

You have plans to build a backup stadium. Are you planning for the new stadium to have a capacity of about what Jūrmala has with 2-3 thousand spectators?

• It may be a bit smaller; it just needs to meet the minimum requirements, especially regarding TOPLYGA matches. It wouldn't be a stadium; just a pitch, suitable for the academy and local league and international matches. In that case, we should just have a place to host matches without leaving Kaunas, but as I said, I hope that the further we go, the more we will compete with concerts and that will be taken into consideration in the future when planning concerts.

Last year was a long journey for you in Europe; let's hope this year will be successful again. Among potential dreams, is there a desire to face a big club as an opponent, or would it be better to face average clubs that you could potentially overcome?

• I have this thought that I would still like to get into the groups, so in the qualifiers, I want to get opponents that are beatable, and then beat them and advance to the groups. After that, face opponents that come with a serious name and measure our strengths against them. I return to the fact that friends in Milan ask when I will come to San Siro (laughs), it would be a nice dream to get such opponents when we eventually reach the groups. Knowing the entire system now, it would be a good chance that some big names could come to Kaunas.

There is a lot of chaos in the TOPLYGA table. When should the panic button be pressed or is it better to just look at one match after another?

• You can't panic here. You cannot change the tournament table by panicking. Right now, every match is worth its weight in gold to us. We lost the points advantage we had after the first round, and, of course, the margin for mistakes in those places decreases because they can cost very dearly. Now we are looking at Friday's match; it is the most important for us. Match after match, stressing about what will happen in the fall cannot be done.

Now three new players have joined your team. Is this the end, or could there still be additions in the near future?

• I think that we are always active in that market. We are monitoring it. If we don’t need anyone at the moment, we still have to be prepared for options. As long as the transfer window is open in Lithuania, there is always a chance that someone will join our team.

It seems that this season you have problems with the quantity of Lithuanians in the team. Do you plan to fix this problem next year and have a larger number of Lithuanians in the team?

• Yes, it is definitely important to have those quality Lithuanians in the team. I think we won’t wait until next year; I think we will have some news already this summer, and Lithuanians are definitely important, without a doubt.

Do you think that Lithuanian clubs are now mature enough to bring in Lithuanians playing in mid-level European clubs, for example, talking about players like Pijus Širvys and Vyktas Slivka?

• I think we have matured; this is shown by Golubicko's return to Lithuania, who is a really important player in the Lithuanian national team, but the problem is that there are few of them. We cannot sign some just because of their higher level. Other national team players are not always interesting to clubs at the same time, so when you talk about mid-level or higher-level players, you could count them on your fingers; there aren’t many, and, of course, we and Vilnius are competing for them.

One very interesting thing was the challenge with Arjen Robben, when you ran a marathon. Perhaps it was not mentioned that your Instagram account was created, while as a basketball player, you avoided these things. It’s interesting how you were convinced to make this decision. Did it take some effort to persuade you?

• It is difficult to be really sure, and for me, this is still alien. When I was a basketball player, I strongly avoided it, and now I just understand that we and Lithuanian football lack attention. If we can use it to promote, even sometimes against my own reservations, I just want more attention for football.

How do you evaluate this project? Was it successful?

• I think it was successful. It resonated everywhere and our fans benefited. I personally enjoyed doing it, as I would have run a marathon anyway, and when we merged everything into one – through the prism of football – I think it worked, but how others see it, I cannot imagine.

Was there any feedback from Arjen Robben or not in the end?

• No, I haven’t received any so far. I still need to improve the result.

What is Tesonet's current contribution to the football club?

• It is natural that there is more attention to the basketball club. Both Tomas and Jonas are somewhat involved in this, well, minimally, of course. They, of course, are interested in football; we talk about our future, common plans, and they definitely see that this is a niche in Lithuania that can grow.

Do you fit the current TOPLYGA format with 10 teams?

• I think that right now, this is a pretty good option, as it is unclear if more teams could play competitively in TOPLYGA, but again, there are all sorts of reflections. I met with a few people who present such a format as the Baltic League, where perhaps more attention and higher level may be present, let's say the clubs from Riga, Tallinn. These are just thoughts, but interesting options.

UEFA does not work like this. Would it be a separate tournament next to TOPLYGA?

• No, you can never change the national championships. Without the consent of the federations, this (the Baltic League) will not happen. However, if the federations and clubs saw common benefits, I could envision how in some format we could play for the first half of the year in the Lithuanian championship, then one team might go into a lower division, others into higher ones, and then determine their relationships among the Baltic countries. But I say it's still just a theoretical model; nothing has moved yet. Now we remain with TOPLYGA, where there are 10 teams, and everything is normal here.