Levadia clinch another Estonian crown

FC Levadia Tallinn secured a third Estonian Meistriliiga title in four years as they won 3-0 at JK Maag Tammeka Tartu on Saturday to ensure the fifth championship in their nine-year history with a match to spare.

Dominant run
Nikita Andreev and Konstantin Nahk put Levadia 2-0 up at half-time and Tarmo Kink struck three minutes after the break to remove all doubt and complete the capital club's fourth league and Estonian Cup double – although they could have afforded a loss as sole challengers FC Flora were held 0-0 by JK Trans Narva. Levadia took control of the title race early with five straight wins and a goalless draw against last season's runners-up Trans, but that team then overtook the champions after a shock 1-0 defeat by amateur newcomers JK Kalev Tallinn. However, an 18-game unbeaten run between April and September took Levadia clear and has allowed them to cruise over the line, having already beaten Trans 3-0 in the cup final back in May.

'Good feeling'
"It was similar season to the previous one, as at certain points there were chances to break away from our rivals, but some unexpected results denied us that and kept us under pressure until the end," Levadia coach Tarmo Rüütli told uefa.com. "You cannot get used to winning, the feeling is so good. Although we have now finished first for the second year in a row, it still tastes very good. Or should I say that last season was long ago, so we couldn't remember the taste any longer!"

Ambitions
However, although Levadia remain dominant on the domestic stage, Rüütli has ambitions further afield. "I would not call it a perfect season, not even close," the coach continued. "Yes, we have won the domestic double, but we played poorly in the Baltic League, one of our targets this season. In the UEFA Champions League we had solid games, but with more luck we could have eliminated [FK] Crvena Zvezda and reached the third qualifying round." Levadia will be back in that competition next summer.

All-time table
Only formed in October 1998, Levadia have quickly established themselves as the country's strongest club with five titles in just nine seasons. This number puts the club joint third in all-time table behind pre-war giants VS Sport Tallinn's tally of nine and Flora on seven, level with JS Estonia Tallinn. Flora's last championship came in 2003, but they are on course to finish second – their best position since that year – if they win at FC Kuressaare next Saturday to at least maintain their one-point advantage over FC TVMK Tallinn and ensure a 2008/09 UEFA Cup campaign.