Although the home side put on pressure right from the start, Luc Holz’ team was able to celebrate its first win of the year thanks to two goals from Danel Sinani.
In the second game of the group, Turkey beat the Faroe Islands 4-0.
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The Red Lions’ line-up was the first surprise of the evening, with Edvin Muratovic, who recently moved from Dudelange to Racing, favoured over Gerson Rodrigues in the starting eleven. Coach Holz later explained that the striker had suffered a light injury in Friday’s training session, which is why he did not want to take any risks. Similarly, Sébastien Thill was forced to start the game on the bench.
The Lithuanian team had the better start to the game, with the first serious chance occurring after ten minutes. The Red Lions struggled to keep a tight defence during this initial period.
Although the Luxembourg players eventually managed to get into the game, Lithuania created more dangerous situations, and only failed to score due to poor finishing.
In the 44th minute, the deadlock was finally broken when Danel Sinani and Yvandro Borges managed to outplay the Lithuanian defence. With a clinical finish, Sinani put Luxembourg in the lead.
In the second half of the game, coach Holz then brought Rodrigues on to replace Vincent Thill. Although Lithuania managed to get several scoring opportunities, Luxembourg’s keeper Anthony Moris was able to make some important saves.
For much of the second half, both teams failed to threaten, but in the 78th minute, Mathias Olesen managed to get his first assist as a Red Lion, setting up Sinani to double Luxembourg’s lead.
