2024-07-23 13:12:06
Panevėžys players will compete for the right to play in the third round of Champions League qualifying on Tuesday. Panevėžys’ opponent in the second round of selection is the Jagiellonia team from Białystok, which was accompanied to Lithuania by approximately one and a half thousand fans.
Panevėžys defeated HJK Helsinki in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, but last Saturday Panevėžys players suffered their third consecutive defeat in the Lithuanian A League and fell to the last tenth place in the national championships.
The ranking of the Polish league in the UEFA table is much better, so the champion of this country, Jagiellonia, did not have to play in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. Last Friday, Białystok football players played their first Polish league match at home and defeated Puszcza from Niepolomice 2:0.
Białystok fans were delighted by two newcomers: the Frenchman Lamine Diaby-Fadiga scored the second goal during the time added by the referee, the Spanish Miki Villar made an assist, after which the first goal was scored in the second half (in the 78th minute). The author of the first goal was the Portuguese Nene.
By the way, all three marked footballers entered the field in the middle of the second half after making substitutions. Nene was unable to train at full strength last week due to injury, so his well-timed strike after coming on as a substitute was also very good news for the fans.
“Reward for patience,” is how Jagiellonia’s first victory in the Polish league was assessed by the Polsat TV website, noting that the champions scored both goals in the last part of the match.
Compared to a second league club
Panevėžys became the Lithuanian champion for the first time last year. Jagiellonia also became Polish champions for the first time this spring. Both teams are debuting in the Champions League selection, but the authority of the Lithuanian and Polish football leagues in Europe is incomparable.
Przegląd Sportowy, presenting the opponents of all Polish clubs in European tournaments, tried to compare them with Polish clubs. Polish champion Jagiellonia will play against Lithuanian Panevėžys. In terms of player value, this team is at a similar level to Stal Staliova Volios, Przegląd Sportowy wrote.
What is the level of Stal? Staliova’s German team finished fourth in Poland’s third tier last season and qualified for the second tier.
However, “Przegląd Sportowy” added: “We need to be alert, because in the last round, the penultimate team of the Lithuanian League defeated the Finnish HJK Helsinki. But Jagiellonia has a 95 percent chance of reaching the next round.”
“Adrian Siemienec’s team dreams of the group stage, but there is still a long way to go. First of all, they must defeat “Panevėžis”. Has a good chance, because the form of the opponents is critical at the moment,” wrote the Polish newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza”.
“Panevėžys” became the champion of Lithuania last year, won the Super Cup in February. However, the team’s form is eerie at the moment and they are fighting for survival. This did not prevent the Panevėžys team from defeating the Helsinki HJK club and entering the next qualifying round of the Champions League,” Gazeta Wyborcza briefly introduced the opponents of the Polish champions.
“Having sensationally reached the second round of the Champions League selection, Panevėžys sweetened the bitterness of the failures experienced in the Lithuanian League for its fans. Last year’s champion is completely disappointing this season and takes the last place in the A League,” wrote the Sportowy Fakty publication.
“Theoretically, Jagiellonia will play a dream opponent at this stage, but I would not write off the Lithuanians, because they are on a wave. I feel that it will not be easy for the Białystok team during the match in Panevėžys, but it should be much easier when playing in their own stadium. When playing at home, “yellow-red” can completely dominate”, speculated Szymon Goralski, interviewed by Polish public television TVP, who was presented as a “Baltic football expert”. He estimated Jagiellonia’s chances of reaching the next round at 80:20.
He cursed the Panevėžys club
“Przegląd Sportowy” interviewed former “Panevėžys” footballer Wilde-Donald Guerrier, who played in the best periods of his career for three seasons in the Krakow “Wisła” club. WD Guerrier signed a contract with the Panevėžys club last year, but the coach at the time, Gino Lettieri, never let the left guard onto the pitch.
The former player of the Haitian national team, WDGuerrier, took away from Panevėžys only the worst memories of both the club’s management and coach G. Lettieris.
“I played in many clubs in Poland, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cyprus, but the Panevėžys club is the worst one I have been to. The organization is a complete disaster, its level is zero. Wieczysta Kraków of the Polish fifth league has a higher level of professionalism, WDGuerrier claimed to the Polish publication. – I noticed it as soon as I arrived. The coach said that before the club didn’t even have a washing machine, and the players had to wash their own clothes.”
WDGuerrier also complained about the fact that few spectators came to the matches, and in the city of Panevėžys, football was significantly behind basketball in terms of popularity.
The former Panevėžys player hit coach G. Lettieri even harder. According to WDGuerrier, the practices he led were very uninteresting and the team was very lucky to get victories. Of course, WDGuerrier was most angry about the fact that the coach did not let him on the field.
“After a new coach came to Panevėžys, a lot has changed. I watched their match against the Helsinki HIK team, the tactics became more varied, they play a lot with one touch. The former coach did not take advantage of the players’ potential,” WDGuerrier said.
Trouble with broadcasts
Lithuanian football fans are disappointed by the fact that none of the traditional televisions broadcast the matches of our country’s clubs in European tournaments. The match between “Panevėžys” and “Šiaulių” could be seen in the first round at least on free online television, while “Žalgiris” of Vilnius has already sold the broadcasting rights to online television whose programs are paid for, for many years.
Polish fans are also dealing with similar problems. All four of the country’s clubs playing in European tournaments have sold the broadcasting rights to Polsat TV, but it can only show qualifying matches played in Poland. Meanwhile, away matches need to be negotiated separately.
However, the fans of “Jagiellonia” have received the happy news that the team’s match in Panevėžys will be shown by the public broadcaster TVP on Tuesday.
2024-07-23 13:12:06