E. Černiauskas: we emphasized this as a regular tour match.

2026-04-06 11:15 © zalgiris.lt

The Lithuanian champions FK "Kauno Žalgiris" players on Easter Sunday defeated Vilniaus "Žalgiris" 3:0 (1:0) in an away match and won the first derby of this TOPLYGOS season, and after the match, the team's coach Eivinas Černiauskas shared his thoughts.

"First of all, I would like to thank everyone who came, as playing in such an atmosphere is wonderful. As a team, we are taking steps forward, and the players are also adding quality – they would add even more if they played more often in such an atmosphere. As we saw today, the beginning was very difficult, and Vilniaus 'Žalgiris' really played well in the first half, they had moments when they could have punished us. In fact, the late goal in the first and the early goal in the second half changed the whole match, and the break helped us a lot because we needed to reorganize and make corrections," the strategist described the match.

E. Černiauskas also talked about the difficult segment during the first half.

"It seemed we entered the match well, but later the Vilnius players dictated their tactical conditions to us, and we couldn't adapt to them, so we really needed the break, and I'm glad we endured until then and even scored during a counterattack. There were a lot of complex mistakes – in other words, we weren't aggressive, we didn't mark their players, and most importantly, we hesitated for 50 percent of the balls. We allowed 'Žalgiris' to believe they could pressure us and keep us in our half. I'm glad the break came at the right time and that already after scoring, we managed to reorganize," emphasized the coach.

The strategist also commented on the situation of Gratas Sirgėdas and spoke about the intrigue of the derby itself.

"There was hype, but more from the opponents' side, we did not try to highlight it and emphasized it as just another round's match. But, of course, when you come here and see the stands full, whether you want to or not, that little excitement arises for both players and coaches. The last time I felt such support was when I was in Vilnius during the European matches in 2022, so today it reminded me a lot of that. Our fans' stand was also the largest for an away match for the first time, so thank you to them for coming," thanked E. Černiauskas.

The Lithuanian champions will play their next match on April 11 at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium, where Kauno rajono "Hegelmann" will arrive.