Lithuania welcome Montenegro to the Darius and Girenas Stadium on Thursday in the fifth match of the UEFA Euro Qualifiers. Both teams are in desperate need of win if they want to get anywhere near qualification for the final tournament.
Lithuania sit bottom of Group G with just one point to their name. In three games Lithuania have one draw and two losses leaving them one point behind Bulgaria and six points behind the last qualification spot. Lithuania also have the joint worst goal difference having conceded five goals and only scoring once.
The first Qualifier for Lithuania was an away trip to Serbia. Dusan Tadic and Dusan Vlahovic both scored in a 2 - 0 win for Serbia as Lithuania were dominated in all aspects on the pitch, only managing six shots. Next was a home tie against Bulgaria, where Lithuania took an early lead through Edvinas Girdvainis who scored in the first 15 minutes. However, within minutes of taking the lead, Justas Lasickas was sent off. Before halftime Marin Plamenov Petkov scored for Bulgaria and the scoreline did not change as the game finished 1 - 1. The last action in the Qualifiers was a trip to Hungary. Barnabas Varga and Roland Sallai scored to give Hungary the 2 - 0 win.
Lithuania also played a friendly against Greece amidst the Qualifiers. With no goals from either side, the game finished as a 0 - 0 draw.
Montenegro are currently third in Group G with four points so far, with one win, one draw and one loss in the three games played. A win against Lithuania would pull them level with Hungary and Serbia in the qualification spots, though a big win would be necessary if points are tied and it comes down to goal difference as Montenegro’s is currently negative.
A trip to Bulgaria was Montenegro’s first game of this group stage. Nikola Krstovic scored the only goal in the 70th minute as Montenegro took their only win of the stage so far despite Bulgaria having the majority of the possession. The first home game was a visit from Serbia which ended in Montenegro’s first loss. Dusan Vlahovic scored twice in a convincing 2 - 0 win for Serbia. The last Qualifier action for Montenegro was a goalless draw against Hungary where Montenegro had only 27% of possession but had two more shots on target than Hungary.
The last time out for Montenegro was a friendly against the Czech Republic in June. Driton Camaj did score for Montenegro but it wasn’t enough as Mojmir Chytil, Michal Sadilek, Lukas Provod and Adam Hlozek all scored for Czechia in the 4 - 1 win.
Lithuania and Montenegro have met just twice in their histories, with both games coming in 2018 in the Nations League. Montenegro has a perfect record against Lithuania, winning both games. The first ever meeting was a 2 - 0 win for Montenegro and the second was a 4 -1 thrashing of Lithuania.