The Meistriliiga, the top tier in Estonia, became the fourth active European league today.
The league was halted two months ago after only one matchday, due to COVID-19. It resumed without fans, which may be affected by the results today.
Kuressaare v Nõmme Kalju
Nõmme Kalju is one of the top Estonian clubs, and as one of the favourites to win the championship, they wanted to keep a perfect record. They played away against Kuressaare, who lost in the first match against Levadia.
It was an extremely easy task for Nõmme Kalju. In the 4th minute, a cross from the left side, and Kuressaare's midfielder Rauno Tutk pushed the ball into his own net. 20 minutes later, the Brazilian Odilavio accurately passed to Kaarel Usta, who easily scored the second goal. Usta presented his new goal celebration – how to wash hands. From now on, it was an easy win for Nõmme Kalju, 2-0.
Legion v FCI Levadia Tallinn
The newly promoted club, Legion, began their first-ever top tier season with an expected defeat against the reigning champions, Flora Tallinn. Today they played against another glorious local club, FCI Levadia Tallinn.
Levadia took some time to score the lead. In the 37th minute, Robert Kirss passed to Manucho, who played his first match in Estonia since he left the country six years ago. The Ivorian striker tricked the goalkeeper and scored in style. In the 88th minute, Levadia made another try to score when Marcelin Gando got into the penalty box, but Legion's defender, Aleksandr Volodin, tripped him and was sent off. The 35-year-old captain, Dmitri Kruglov, took the penalty, and Levadia could celebrate a 2-0 win.
Paide Linnameeskond v Tulevik
Before the CONID-19 outbreak, Paide Linnameeskond led the league leader after defeating Tallinna Kalev 8-1. They wanted to prove that this result wasn’t coincidental, as they hosted Tulevik.
Paide was a bit shocked, and Tulevik was much more dominant in the match. They scored the first goal in the 26th minute after their organized attack was concluded with a decent strike by Herol Riiberg. In the 61st minute, Riiberg had another chance to score, but instead of shooting he went for a dive. The referee bought it and pointed to the penalty spot, from which Pavel Marin took finished the task. Just before the final whistle, Paide finally scored. A free kick into the box, Muhammed Sanneh used his head to pass the ball to Edrisa Lubega, who put the ball in. In the end, Tulevik won 2-1.
