Marked for Kajus Bička
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Oct 2027
First, on 37 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Lazar Selenić out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Cherno Saho in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad25 Oct 2027
36 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dominik Franke is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Oct 2027
Lazar Selenić breaks a bone — 38 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market4 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Achouitar, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Grigore Turda gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Grigore Turda is on it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Klaudijus Upstas joins up with his country. Zalgiris lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad4 Oct 2027
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Zalgiris lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ovidijus Verbickas has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Sep 2027
The view from the top for Zalgiris
37 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad27 Sep 2027
45 days out for Lazar Selenić after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market27 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zalgiris can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
65 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Jul 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Bryan Teixeira obliged against Siauliai. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Zalgiris.
Match21 Jul 2027
Nobody wants to play Zalgiris right now
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Rijeka is saying, and nobody at Zalgiris is enjoying the guessing.
Match21 Jul 2027
Zalgiris are at home on the road
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Zalgiris
Ivan Lytvynenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
The crowd has taken to Kajus Bička
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match21 Jul 2027
Zalgiris hit back inside 3 minutes
Siauliai held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Zalgiris answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.67 on the card, and the Zalgiris support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Martín SJ have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Zalgiris
Stefan Purtić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kajus Bička commits to Zalgiris for another 4 years.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giedrius Matulevičius is on it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zalgiris, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Jul 2027
The Carlos Olses talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zalgiris know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 Jul 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ovidijus Verbickas may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zalgiris. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ETO Győr have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
River Plate have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giedrius Matulevičius is on it.
Market11 Jan 2027
The minutes were not coming at Zalgiris, so he will look for them at Siauliai. Everybody involved calls it development; for the player it is simply a chance to play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zalgiris can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pakhtakor have kept their man, and Zalgiris go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giedrius Matulevičius commits to Zalgiris for another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to ETO Győr: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Sogdiana: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market4 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Zalgiris will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
A promise honoured for Kajus Bička
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zalgiris told Kajus Bička something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.