Tomas Švedkauskas conceded five goals in Zagreb, but in tough conditions he was one of the best in his team. Lithuanian media after 5:0 admit that their champions were no match for the Croatian giants.
Dinamo's footballers convincingly defeated Kauno Žalgiris 5:0 in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Champions League at Maksimir. Although the team expects a return match in Lithuania in a week, the Zagreb club has practically already secured a place in the play-off, where Norwegian side Viking awaits them.
Dinamo imposed dominance from the start, but until the 31st minute the score was level. The turning point came within just two minutes. First, in the 32nd minute, Miha Zajc scored with a precise shot from 18 meters into the corner of the Lithuanian goal, and in the very next attack, Scott McKenna followed up a cross to put the ball into the net for 2:0 at halftime.
In the second half, Mateo Lisica increased the lead to 3:0 in the 51st minute with a powerful shot from about ten meters. Luka Stojković received an excellent pass in the 76th minute and scored from the edge of the penalty area off the left post for 4:0, and the final 5:0 was set by Lukas Kačavenda in stoppage time, finishing a counter-attack on his second attempt.
Kauno Žalgiris goalkeeper Tomas Švedkauskas, despite conceding five goals, was among the best players of his team and prevented an even more convincing defeat. After the match, he did not look for excuses but honestly described the difficult conditions at Maksimir.
"As far as I'm concerned, in the last fifteen minutes I nearly fainted several times. Whenever I had to shout louder to my teammates, my vision would go dark. Maybe the header against the post at the first goal contributed to that, I don't know. But if it was like that for me, who spends most of the time in the penalty area, you can imagine how it was for the players who were running across the whole pitch. It was humid, almost no air, very tough conditions,"
Švedkauskas said for Narod.hr.
The Lithuanian goalkeeper admitted that the teams are at completely different levels. "From the very beginning, it was obvious that the teams are at completely different levels. We had difficulties throughout the match," he said. He also added that Dinamo's shots from distance did not surprise them because they had analyzed them in detail. "We knew which players shoot and in what way, we knew their strengths. Despite that, they scored. We simply had no answer."
He did not see the atmosphere in front of 12,000 spectators as a decisive factor: "The fans didn't affect me personally too much. The only problem was that we could barely hear each other. The difference wasn't made by the stands, but by Dinamo's quality."
The Lithuanian media did not spare their champions either. The portal LNK wrote that "Kauno Žalgiris was no match for the Croatian giants," while Delfi stated that "Dinamo shamelessly buried Kauno Žalgiris's dreams in the Champions League." TV3 vividly described that "Kauno Žalgiris burned in the Zagreb hell," and Sportas emphasized that the Lithuanian champions "had no hope away against Zagreb's Dinamo."
Despite the heavy defeat, Švedkauskas says his team has no right to give up before the return match in Kaunas: "The coaches will decide on the strategy. We also have league matches that are very important to us. We will go out on the pitch, fight, and give our best. We have no other choice."
