Dinamo Zagreb received an extremely kind Champions League group stage draw Thursday night; being grouped with Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk and Atalanta. Dinamo will have zero chance to take any points off of City, however, they will be able to showcase their young talent in front of a team with deep pockets. It’s good for business.
Also good for business is getting paired with Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk and Italian 4th-place side from last season, Atalanta. Dinamo can beat both of these sides and realistically finish second in this group. They wouldn’t be favorities to do so, but it wouldn’t be farfetched either.
Chances Dinamo finish 1st: 0%. 2nd: 20%. 3rd 35%. 4th: 45%
@Anonymous
Relax bro.
I can feel you’re frustrated. The quality weather, food and the Jadransko more can cure all that.
Go on Expedia, and book a flight to Split. They have direct ones now depending on where you’re at.
September is a great month to go as it’s still hot.
You’ll love it.
Yea I remember some Croat team wrecking some Serbian team in Canada during that time, but I wasn’t there that year.
So funny.
@maminjo I don’t recall the exact year but I’m pretty certain it was London and it had to be around 25 years ago give or take?If you have buddies in their late 40’s from Norval I can guarantee they remember it vividly,or people from London working that banquet.
Another priceless moment from my playing days was the quarter finals of the Ontario cup.Marko from Hamilton might recall this being from there.The war had just broken out and we traveled to play Hamilton Serbs They actually signed a ringer from back in Serbia, once they knew they were playing Croats but he didn’t do shit.The Serb fans were spitting at us and the baba’s were throwing oranges and umbrellas at us as it was a cloudy rainy day.
The sun started to shine when we beat Them 4-1We had a couple of Italians playing for us and one asked me” why are they mad at you…aren’t they the ones invading Croatia and murdering innocent people ??”That pretty much summed it up I thought?During play I had to get the ball for a throw in towards their side…back then we all had long baggy jerseys and I had pulled my shorts half way down before I got to the ball.Once I got to the ball I bent over and had my bare ass exposed to their fans without the ref or linesman noticing..their fans went berserk but we had a great laugh over that for years.Again before the days of cell phones or I might have been charged for indecent exposure.
We needed an escort out of town with 6 OPP cars they were so angry.
Boy did the Croats in Hamilton treat us proper when we got to their clubhouse,a good bunch of guys.
Just came back from Croatia and sat in split airport
Saw a huge line of Serbs lining up to get on the Belgrade flight on air Serbia which included mijatovic
They are sure enjoying our coast but are shutting the fuck up which is good
But don’t worry NDH will rise again to settle old scores
When that Serbian music of the Croatian national anthem hits and I see you Croats standing for it I laugh my ass off.
I’m not a Serb, Yugo or Croat, I’m from a nation that wrote the music and lyrics of our national anthem, can you guess which one?
How come you call me Serb and not Yugo though lol, you care to share that? Is it because Yugos love Croatia now lol!
On the war, it had to happen that way so you stupid Croats can think you won something. Have a look at the dumb fuck HOS-ovci now, they were the muppets that had ZDS on their badges, they fought for commie Tudjman and now your muppet footballers get fined for starting a ZDS chant lol! Lol, budi ponosan.
@Boris
Are Serbs outcasts because they’re nationalists whereas you Croats have embraced globalism, Serbs might say you Croats are jocksniffers that can’t rule yourselves?
@Medo
LOL. What?!
That’s amazing. The undying loyalty and stigma for not standing still during the anthem, lol.
What year was this?
I flew up North to one of those Norval tourneys way back in the day.
Nobody talks about Serbia.
We’re too busy booking our vacations to Croatia, and watching football matches.
Croats don’t go to Serbian websites to whine and complain about Serbia.
However, Serbs like yourself do visit Croatian websites all the time (as well as raiding the comments section of every news story about Croatia in any news article online).
You guys have a serious complex about anything remotely Croatian. I feel bad for you. I can’t imagine what you were going through in this past World Cup, watching Croatia advance to the finals while Serbia got knocked out by a bunch of Swiss Albanians (coached by a Croat). That’s rough man.
@Maminjo
Lol, of course you Yugos didn’t want a war, why would you wanna break up Yugoslavia?
The Greater Serbia dream is why communist Yugoslavs wanted to break up their Yugoslavia.
Seeing there was no way that the communists and nationalist Serbs could coexist, the communists, much to their chagrin, decided to establish their own nation, the nation of Croatia.
The commies knew all they needed to about Croats from the words of the Father of the Croatian nation, how Croats trust everyone without thinking, forget about those that did them wrong and will always have others ruling them because of the traitors within lol! How else do you explain commie Franjo Sranjo becoming Croatia’s first president?
The point is, you stupid Croats should look at yourselves and stop talking about the chetnik Serbs, a good start would be to stop talking about greater Serbia aggression as a negative thing and look at it as a positive, the sole reason for communists wanting to create Croatia in their image. Cause and effect!
Okay thanks for those comments to the two guys who replied
My highlite moment in the tournament was playing against Eusebio in Chicago.had to be mid 80’s from what I recall.Rumor had it they paid him 10 g’s But the guy barely broke a sweat,and you could tell he couldn’t give a shit.Does anyone on here recall the tournament in London when Norval was brawling another team during the awards banquet?
Beer bottles thrown, tables overturned,chairs and punches flying everywhere…then they play the CRO anthem and everyone stops fighting.Anthem stops then back to brawling…Anthem back on fight stops again.
This went on for at least 20 minutes it was unbelievable.
It would have made 60 million views on YouTube But nobody had cell phones back then.
Slavonac did you play on that team?
the only year the Vancouver Croatia team entered the tournament, we won!
1993 Champs!
what a great time that was…awesome zabava too!
As part of its strategy, Serbia is attracting foreign investors with its low-wage status, as well as subsidies of up to 10,000 euros per employee.Still I would rather vacation in cro ,serbs can go fuck their garbage 100 yearold tanks up the tailpipe,go fuck yur self cetniks.
OK now back to soccer.
Who the fuck is going to the 56th Annual North American Soccer Tourney this weekend in Norval? It’s gonna be a blast. I can’t believe nobody here is even talking about it, instead you are arguing with useless serb troll twats for fuck sakes. Hopefully my boys from Hamilton take it this year. Anyways, can’t wait to watch football, down some beers and eat svinjetina with you motherfuckers! See you there…..ZDS!!
Forbes magazine’s Best Countries for Business list for 2018 ranked Serbia at 56, four places below Croatia.
@iggy
Yes serbs are getting alot of foreign investment lately but their still land locked,maybe other countries want to exploit their dumb workforce since most of the country is living on handouts.
Ironically, it was the Croats who rescued the Serbs both times during the two Croatia/Bulgaria wars.
Please all this serb talk is upsetting my stomach. Bulgaria should have taken them over long ago. They are not fit to come into Croatia. Dinaric hillbillies.
Anonymous Serb …you label Croats simple minded then end your rant by pleading with some on here to shut the fuck up?wouodnt it be easier to just not come to this site ?Funny I tried searching for a comparable Serb site but there isn’t one!You Serbs are such superior creatures you would think with your self-professed above average intellect,you could create a simple sports site?
MIND you that would be too SIMPLE!
You people are pariahs,and instead of visiting our beautiful country perhaps visit your spiritual homeland Kosovo.
Oh wait!
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend with your fellow pariahs…answer me this ..why do Serbs only socialize with Serbs?
Is it your choice…or everyone else’s ?
@Anonymous
No Croat has issues with what happened in WW2. There is no stigma there, and we know that terrible crimes were committed. There are official commemorations in Croatia every year for it. It’s Serbia that seems to have issues accepting accountability for the past, with none of their versions of events being academically accepted by any organization outside Serbia.
You guys are still living in that past. While we’re on a beach right now chilling.
Also, the only traitors are Serbs for being Ottoman Turkey’s greatest vassals in Europe. Gaining lands while everyone else in the region was losing them. Marrying into the Ottoman monarchy and lining up to give your kids away for the Jannisary corps, while everyone else is tattooing their kids with Christian symbols to prevent them from forgetting.
You guys made up Miloš Obilić (a fictional character whose existence is not academically acceptable by any organization) since all your historical heroes were on the Turkish side.
You need to open up a history book before calling your lovely neighbors liars and traitors.
You are right about Croatia not initially going for independence, and were negotiating with Serbia to turn it into some sort of Commonwealth. Croatia didn’t want a war, as human lives were at stake. But thanks to your buddy Milošević and Karadžić, and a surprising amount of civilians, war was all you guys wanted.
I don’t blame you. The Adriatic Sea is awesome, and that was a once in a lifetime opportunity to take it. It failed…and it cost you big.
But that’s OK. There’s VISA free travel for you and a lot of great deals online (especially if you book your stay for more than four days). You guys should come by for a swim sometime. Everybody else in the world does.
😉
Congrats to the ladies
Of the Grb. They play Belgium
Next week show them some
Support. One of you journalist’s
Should reach out to them for
An interview. I think it would be
Unique for this site.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&source=hp&ei=_xJpXf6vBOfM5gLCsZPoCQ&q=croatian+women%27s+soccer+team&oq=ceotian+womens+&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.1.1.0i13i30l8.2301.5833..6687…0.0..0.158.1601.6j9……0….1…….8..41j41i131i275j0i324j46i131j0i131j0j46i275j46j0i30j0i10i30j33i299j0i22i30.Nx-FF6JWuLU
Unbelievable some of you are defending
Serbs, The Yugo betrays you. The EU
Was a trick. It’s run by rich socialists.
A lot of Croats did vote against it during
the referendum. EU was a hedge against
Russia and her Serb whore.
@ soul come out have a beer this weekend.
@ BZ
Tooooooooo …
Funny how folks go to is to crap on our own people?
I can see how Rebić feels like he should be some other place by now. He is still recovering from 4 lost years of his young career when he was sick/injured and lost in oblivion before Kovač threw him a life line.
I find him a unique talent with his size, speed and aggression, coupled with vastly under rated foot skills.
He has also learned how to play and make intelligent runs and move with purpose.
His power and industry was the X factor in our historic run. He and Perišić allowed Modrić and Rakitic just enough space to shine.
I am curious to see if anything materializes for him in the final days of the transfer window.
At this point half of me hopes he stays as last minute deals always lead to a tough integration process.
At Frankfurt he may get another year to simply play and rock out.
I have had my fill of watching our talented boys nailed to the bench.
A lot of serb bashing talking about how they’re a lawless cuntry and inferior etc.
Yet all i hear from the Croats i know is how politically and economically Croatia is massively on the wane while that serbcunt – i forget his name but the gigantically tall one – is wrapping up huge investments one after the other and we can’t do anything at all cos we’re alwasy at impasse.
“They will always be harping about things like WW2”
Lol, for you muppet Croats WWII is not something you want to remember, things like commie atheist Franjo Sranjo who didn’t want Croatian independence during WWII becoming your first president lol!
Here’s some thoughts from the father of your simple minded nation,
“Dok budemo imali domaćih izdajica, dotle ćemo imati tuđinskih gospodara.”
– Ante Starcevic
Croatia’s gospodari today are the EU!
Why is it that the EU are your rulers?
“Mi Hrvati imamo dvije narodne mane iz kojih izvire sva naša nesreća: mi svakome vjerujemo bez da promišljamo i lako zaboravljamo krivice koje nam drugi učine.”
– Ante Starcevic
How come during the 90’s civil war the Croats trusted commie atheist Franjo Sranjo to represent the Croatian people, did they forget what the commies did to Croatian people after WWII?
You guys are all Yugos, you may not know it, but that’s what you are.
Lol, why else do you people always talk shit about chetnik Serbs? Because they broke up Yugoslavia.
Lol, you simple minded Croats were hoodwinked into a war because the chetnik Serbs knew you would have communist leaders going forward, making what Otac Domivina said about you people prophetic!
Lol, the characteristics of the Croatian person, he’s a traitor and his cogitative powers are operationally limited. Lol, be proud!
BZ, Soul Champ, Maminjo, Slavonac from Canada, DannyJ and Elvis, can you Yugos please shut the fuck up?
Soul-you know what’s up.
As far as Rebic being selfish in Frankfurt, I can attest that he is, here a few good examples:
1) Remember when Frankfurt was about to get embarassingly ousted prematurely from the German Cup (Polkal) earlier this year? Selfish Rebic decided to score 3 goals to save them from that embarassment. What a prick!
2) Remember when Selfish Rebic single handedly beat Bayern to win the German Cup in 2018! What a selfish douche!
3) Selfish Rebic is constantly running down sidelines helping Frankfurt win possession back. What a selfish show-off!? I mean, why can’t he just not play defense, and cherrypick like that bust Jovic did?
Rebic being selfish is fakenews. Frankly I am surprised anyone on this site would doubt him after his pivotal performance in WC2018, but whatever.
Shaktar’s squad is half Brazilian no chance there, Atalanta finished 3rd in the strong Italian Serie A.
Dinamo Zagreb will finish last in the group as always lets be honest here we are not better than any of those teams. Playing in the Europa League is different than the Champions League.
I don’t like this group at all. Shaktar is always decent and will likely battle Atalanta for 2nd place. Atalanta is bringing guys like Ilicic and Muriel off the bench while Dinamo has guys like Gojak and Gavranovic coming off the bench. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see Dinamo getting close to 3rd
Faaak.
Rijeka drew Gent and were eliminated today?
Damn man. We gotta get some more successful clubs outside of Dinamo.
Serbija Šmerbija…
They’re an irrelevant nation that just needs to be managed.
They will always be harping about things like WW2 and other random things, in an attempt to avoid owning up to their more recent crimes.
In the end, it doesn’t matter.
When you Google “Croatia” in Google Images or ask anybody about Croatia… The first things that come up are Beautiful coastline, food, women, and sports… Specifically our awesome red and white checkers, which has turned the checkerboard pattern into a worldwide brand for all things Croatia (not even Barcelona can take that away from us).
When you Google “Serbia” in Google images… You just get a bunch of map photos showing you where Serbia is, along with the odd photo of a dilapidated tank or depressing landscape photo. If you ask anyone about Serbia… You’ll get a blank stare and probably a question asking you what that is.
The best thing for Serbia to do is to piggyback off Croatia’s popularity, like what Montenegro is successfully doing. If they don’t wanna do that, then they can keep waiting for Mother Russia to bring them good fortune, lol.
Milos Hvar, I read your comment and have to agree with you. I do agree with everything you said, my concern is that Serbs live in a ruleless country. Justice doesn’t prevail and any retarded Cetnik could do something totally retarded and kill one of our fans or even harm our players.
I would love to see the anticipation leading up to the game and then with emotions, watch the game and pray for a win. Lately I see a lot of Serb provocative talk from Serb leaders in Serbia and from Serb residents living in Croatia. I feel they’re irresponsible and can stupidly cause major friction, something I don’t want to see our people have to go through.
Hahaha…Elvis, maybe you’re right as well about Crna Legija dude!
Oh nice I’ll be in cro for the Atalanta game
How hard is it to get a ticket for a cl game in Zagreb?
Do I go scalper route
I have no idea how it works there
Rebić red card was weak!!
He left his foot for a border line 50/50 ball?
That’s what makes him great.
He was a beast on the LW for first goal.
I hope he beasts these next two qualifiers.
Sir gay Savic is worth 100 million????Lmao
Schedule out
1 – Atalanta (H) 9/18
2 – Man C (A) 10/1
3 – Shak D (H) 10/22
4 – Shak D (A) 11/6
5 – Atalanta (A) 11/26
6 – Man C (H) 12/11
Like that we have Man City last. They’ll prob have it all wrapped up by then, and may not risk their top players too much
@Eric
True about Olmo and Livaković getting more exposure… But it could work both ways.
Right now… Dinamo has received an offer of 25 million and 10 million for Olmo and Livaković. These are very good amounts, considering both have only ever played in the HNL (and only one season of Europa).
If Dinamo were to completely crash out of the Champions League like they’ve done in the past (with 20 goals being scored on Livaković and Olmo looking invisible) their sale value could drop.
Look at Lazio with Sergej Milinkovic Savic. They were getting 100 million Euro offers for him and they got greedy and wanted 150 million. It’s been almost two years now and they would be lucky to have 100 million for him now. They could have got that cash for him two years ago and gave that starting spot to another young player, that they could have sold by now too.
I prefer that Dinamo keep Olmo and Livaković, but only because I actually think these two are talented players whosi value will only go up. I’m not worried about them declining.
yeah, per my conversation about Rebic yesterday….he’s not stable enough to play on a big team and I hope he doesn’t spiral again.
Rebic with a red
Dinamo’s chances:
1st: 0%,
2nd: 30%,
3rd: 40%,
4th: 30%
Hmmmm ante kvartuc…. Math not the strong suit?
Chances dinamo finishes 1st: 0, ,2nd:. 50, 3rd:. 75???
Look at all the ajax players who got a huge payday after their incredible run last season.
Do we know when the schedule yet??
Mamic needs a new car!!!
I guess the teams who may want them want them now
When is transfer period over?
I guess there is always risk of a player getting hurt and getting nothing
This could be Dinamo’s year to make history!
If they can manage to keep the team together, and maybe a little luck.
There is no bigger stage than the Champions league to showcase your talent. Wouldn’t it be best for Olmo and Livakovic to stay at Dinamo. If they play well their pricetag can only go up!
@ante totally agree that it is a perfect group for Dinamo. finishing 2nd is plausible for sure! To be honest i think they should keep the squad together because of this group. This is the strongest Dinamo squad in a while with talent to beat teams. We will get exposure in this group and if the guys play up to their level and finish 2nd or 3rd values will go way up. Let’s let this train roll in the CL!!!!
The last time Nenad Bjelica was coaching in the Champions League, his team missed out on the second round by a single point.
If they keep Dinamo intact… This could be a very interesting campaign.
Perfect group for Dinamo. They get to showcase vs. Man City and Shakhtar, Atalanta are definitely beatable. They can very well finish 2nd or 3rd.
Atalanta phew ..not a bad group actually
Man City, Shaktar, Dinamo, and Atalanta
With this group, Dinamo finishing 3rd is a realistic possibility.
Manchester City and Shaktar so far for Dinamo. This could be good. Steal a point or two from Shaktar and get on international TV while playing City. Let’s see who’s joining from pot 4.
@Slavonac from Canada
You can tend to the wounded or maybe light some candles and let some balloons go. If this set up happens its Crna Legija time.
@Slavonac i hate to say this because usually i enjoy what you have to say but i think you are totally wrong. Sports are built on storylines. interest is drawn from stories and there would be none bigger than Dinamo vs Zvezda. in separate groups they would just be two teams that no one would care about but grouped together there would be a huge amount of interest which will be good for our players. they will not just be seen as punching bags for the CL giants
You might not see it but for me the bragging rights of this game would be huge. I would also be devastated if we lost but a win would be monumental in my eyes just for the symbolism behind. Arrogant bastards parking a tank in front of the stadium, i want to smash them and I am sure the team does too. wounds are still fresh from the war but we can show who we are and fight for ourselves in different way and that is why football is great.
Slavonac from Canada = Full kit wanker
Why base your future on two games that would probably mean nothing more than bragging rights? If Olmo has a tentative agreement with some club or if the club had some idea that they would be selling players, I can’t imagine why they would keep them just because they play against Zvezda.
I just hope they don’t draw them, I would feel devastated if we lost and at the same time, a win would bring me some happiness but I hope it wouldn’t be at a major cost of some real bad shit going down!
@Maminjo I was literally about to say that. great minds! yea with četniks saying they are the best in the region i think we would keep Olmo and put our top dogs out. I understand you need to separate business and heart but i think in this scenario it would be too hard. Zvezda would do the same.
Drawing Zvezda would probably prevent Dinamo from selling their players before the tournament begins.
It would be unforgivable to field a B squad against Zvezda, after selling off your top three or four players, lol.
Let’s hope they draw them.
Slavonac – I agree. Would be great entertainment, but too many side antics.
Also, say whatever you want, but it would be VERY difficult for Dinamo to pick up even a point in Beograd, largely because of all these outside factors. Since the the whole idea is to try to advance out of the group, I would prefer another team out of pot 4 that Dinamo has a better chance to pull 4 or 6 points from.
I’m not interested in Dinamo playing Zvijezda. there is nothing soccer related in this type of game that would do any good for the game or the players. it would end up a total disaster, especially at this particular time when Zvijezda parks a tank from Vukovar in front of their stadium and there’s all sorts of political hate-jargon going back and forth between Croatia and Serbia as well as all over twitter and the rest of social media. I don’t want to see anyone getting hurt or killed, nor do I want the result of any game get influenced by intimidation tactics from hooligans or by some crazy assed fans.
I watch soccer because I totally love every aspect of the game. I really don’t want to see some display that’ll take away from what these guys play for. win or lose, this wouldn’t end well for anyone!
We are coming up to Zagreb to with our drones.
You will for sure see me at Maksimir if we draw Red star. Holy shit it will be insane. I think it would be the most politically charged, tense build up/atmosphere in sporting history. An absolute global story, a 30 for 30 in the making. Hard for me to get my head around it truly but I want it so bad. Away fans I can definitely be seeing banned but even with that it will be an event like no other
I want Belgrade so bad, but it’s a recipe for disaster; no way would either team get out of either of those matches without some sort of point deduction, accusation of racism, UEFA fine or banishment. All the work Dinamo has done to get there and help the Prva Liga would be in jeopardy.
Having said that, if the draw happens, who’s with me in a trip to Maksimir for the match?
Also Ante, “The two clubs have not played since”
I also made this claim regrading the May 13 match but someone corrected be in saying the teams played each other twice in the following season. Can anyone confirm that?
This will be labeled a high risk match and away fans will be banned. If they do play they must channel the energy of Super Joe Simunic. ZDS!