Two paths in the Conference League – one 'cast aside and eternally unemployed' moves on, while the club with principles falls early.

2025-08-01 18:55 © EuroFootball.com koliažas/„Sabah“, Stop kadras

This season's epic of Vilnius "Žalgiris" in Europe has come to an end. An epic that concluded after four matches, although expectations were significantly higher, knowing that they are the A League champions.

One of the strangest sentences in this whole story was spoken by "Žalgiris" manager Vilma Venslovaitienė. While talking to the closest club fans "Pietų IV" about the best Lithuanian strategist Valdas Dambrauskas, she commented: "What has your Dambrauskas won? A perpetual unemployed, thrown out from everywhere."

At that time, "Žalgiris" fans suggested such an option, but the manager just laughed, defending Vladimir Čeburin.

Yesterday, Thursday, was a good demonstration of how fate's irony works.

The team led by Valdas Dambrauskas, Baku "Sabah," confidently completed the second qualifying round of the Conference League. In the second match, the Azerbaijani team defeated "Petrocub" 4:1, with an aggregate score of 6:1.

Meanwhile, the "Žalgiris" team, managed by V. Čeburinas, ended their European campaign with a 0:2 loss against the "Linfield" team. The first match ended in a draw, but in the second match, the champions met no success.

Speaking of Dambrauskas, he generally deserves more respect. One could say that his career is somewhat stagnating at this moment (an unconvincing stint in Hungary and a brief time at "Omonia"), but he is still the best football coach in Lithuania. The specialist from Pakruojis achieved a long-awaited triumph in the Croatian Cup with "Hajduk," received a chance to coach Bulgarian champions, and continues to receive inquiries from all over Europe. It is unclear how much trust can be placed in rumors that linked him with "Middlesbrough" a couple of years ago, but even there, Dambrauskas's name was tarnished. Such a strategist, coaching good teams abroad, needs to be supported, follow his teams' results, and not speak ill of him.

Meanwhile, V. Venslovaitienė, who had long defended V. Čeburinas, didn't even look the way of V. Dambrauskas. It is probably not the case that the strategist has ambitions in Lithuania; after all, he has better offers. That was just evidence of the attitude of the "Žalgiris" leaders (or just the leader).

On Thursday in the Conference League, everything was nicely organized on its shelves, especially since even the "rival" from Kaunas, the other "Žalgiris," managed to advance to the next stage of the Conference League.

Perhaps now the Vilnius club and Vilma Venslovaitienė will implement changes in the coaching staff? Or will Čeburinas continue to benefit from a close relationship with the club head?