After an 18-match goal drought, Valerijs Lizunovs silenced the criticism from Daugavpils’ board and staff by scoring against Vllaznia in the UEFA Conference League 1st qualifying round, leading them to a 1st leg victory over the Albanian vice-champions.
The criticism was first publicly addressed during Matchday 19 of the Virsliga. After the 2-1 loss to FK Tukums, BFC Daugavpils’ assistant coach criticized the Latvian forward for his poor form.
“In my opinion, his next season will be in the [Daugavpils’] city’s championship in the ‘Victory’ team. I also don’t understand why he’s performing like this.”
Lizunovs later addressed the criticism and posted the quote on his Instagram story, adding “We’ll see…”
Despite the answer, there were no changes to be seen in the next two matches as Lizunovs went scoreless against both Grobiņa and Riga in the league.
Daugavpils’ debut in the European competitions approached slowly. Before flying off to face Vllaznia in Albania, in an interview with Edmunds Novickis, Daugavpils’ general manager, Nauris Mackevičs once again highlighted his bad form, stating:
“How many goals has he scored this season? As many as our appearances in European competitions – zero.”
Lizunovs finally responded to the criticism in impressive fashion by scoring a historic first European goal for Daugavpils, which also secured their first-ever win on the European stage as they beat Vllaznia 1-0 in the first leg of the tie. Will this be the turnaround point for the Latvian?
The return leg will be played next Thursday at LNK Sporta Parks in Latvia, with Daugavpils holding a valuable away goal and a real chance to progress further in their first-ever European campaign.
