Žalgiris Vilnius president Andrius Tapinas has appealed on social media for help identifying a supporter who allegedly expressed support for Russia after Thursday’s UEFA Conference League qualifier.
In a post published on Facebook, Tapinas said he wanted to identify a person who had been in the club’s active supporters’ section before later, while wearing Žalgiris merchandise, expressing support for Russia and confronting other passengers on a public bus.
According to the post, the incident took place shortly before midnight on Thursday on bus number 53, with the individual reportedly getting off near the Kalvarijos area of Vilnius.
“Maybe someone recognises this citizen who somehow ended up in our active supporters’ sector and then, while wearing Vilnius Žalgiris merchandise, expressed love for Russia and confronted other passengers on the bus.
God forbid, I am not planning any witch hunt. I would simply like to get in touch with him and buy all of our club’s green-and-white merchandise from him for a good price so he no longer wears it. I would also like to explain the club’s position regarding supporters of Russia attending our matches.”
Tapinas emphasized that he was not encouraging a public witch hunt, but instead wanted to ensure that anyone openly supporting Russia while representing the club’s colours understood that such views are incompatible with Žalgiris Vilnius’ values.
On the pitch, Žalgiris enjoyed a successful evening on Thursday, defeating Montenegrin side Petrovac 2-1 at home to complete a 5-2 aggregate victory and progress to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League.
The Lithuanian side will now face Georgian club Dinamo Tbilisi in the second qualifying round, with the first leg of the tie taking place in Tbilisi on Thursday, 23 July.
