Dinamo Zagreb, like in recent years, will be carrying the lone Croatian flag in European play. And although the 10-time reigning Croatian champions have qualified for Champions League regularly in the past half decade, it’s been anything but pleasant to watch.
There have been glimpses of hope with Dinamo defeating Arsenal last year and nearly keeping Real Madrid to a draw three years ago, but let’s face it, they can’t compete in Champions League.
On Wednesday, Dinamo begin the tournament in France against Lyon. This is by far the toughest, top to bottom, group in which Dinamo has been paired. They will also play a very good Sevilla squad and will see Mario Mandžukić and Marko Pjaca return to Maksimir with Italian champions Juventus.
Finishing third and making the Europa League knockout stage would be a stretch, but that’s realistically what Dinamo is aiming for. How many points do you see Dinamo picking up in this group?
But in the end, with Mamić at the helm, even the most hardcore Dinamo fans can’t be excited about Champions League. Three extremely respectable European sides will be coming to town and we can only assume that Maksimir will be half empty. When can we become excited about Croatian football again?
@ Slavonac
Sanchez DID come on and provide dynamic speed for Portugal. Portugal man handled us and we needed to respond with more Athleticism on the pitch to compliment our skilled players.
We DID need to bring in some dynamic players off the bench to shift things up or at the very least take some tired old legs off. Pjaca almost made a run in a few short minutes to tie it up.
Yes Corluka can read the game as a CB.
But in the attacking third we need dynamic movment to fully utilize our midfield magic.
I still believe Kovacic at 22 to provide that final burst to unlock stubborn defenses.
Point is we are not maximizing the full power of attacking talent on the pitch and we are simply not scoring enough.
Yes we are creating chances but we need to be even more dynamic and play teams off the pitch and hang 3-4 goals a match.
Agreed.
Pjaca looks mighty dangerous.
He should be a beauty.
Rebic’s strength and speed is what got him sold for a decent price in the first place.
His technical ability and actual athleticism is questionable. He’s also very dumb too.
He’s more Ivica Olic than anything.
Strong athletic and fast.
Sounds like we’re talking about Ante Rebic..
Pjaca’s “game” is similar to that of Bale’s and Ronaldo’s where he is an uncharacteristically big winger who relies on his speed, athleticism and technical ability to go at defenders.
This is just the same as saying how Halilović’s “game” is similar to David Silva’s.
This doesn’t mean that they will be as good as Ronaldo or David Silva. Just comparing their style of play.
i think you guys are getting ahead of yourselves with Pjaca.. saying he’s gonna be the next big superstar or even comparing him to ronaldo
he is athletic, sure.. but.. jeez.. overhype imo
Large, strong, athletic, fast winger with solid technical ability.
Pjaca is a poor man’s Bale or Ronaldo…
Which is still pretty awesome.
Portugal didn’t outspeed us…they countered a shiity play by a careless Strinic. Yes, speed is important but there are some very smart defenders that have incredible timing and can’t read the play well…..nit sure why you point out the slowness of some of our players when it really didn’t affect at all!
Pjaca will be our biggest superstar.
Modric and Rakitic are phenomenal and can serve the ball in a world class fashion. But Pjaca will destroy defense’s more along the lines of a Cristiano Ronaldo due to his speed and power.
Speed wins at the highest level.
Say what youu want about Portugal during Euro but one aspect of their game no one mentioned was their speed. Their speed allowed them to play the boring “close down defensively” game that didn’t allow opposing teams to score goals in the knockout stage. Sure it was boring and they had luck. But they ran and those young bodies have speed.
Renato Sanches, Adrien Silva, Andre Gomes, Raphael, William are all under 25 and can run like beasts.
Mandzukic has lost a little bit of pace at his age. Rakitic has never been fast. Srna, Vida, Corluka are all slow.
Our only explosive speed demon at Euro was Perisic. Pjaca barely saw the field.
Insert Pjaca and Kramaric into the national squad for their pace. Speed wins!
@ horvat
pjaca’s action has been quite limited, but i’m becoming more and more impressed with him. i was highly skeptical when he was billed as a starter on the repka last year…and still dont think he was ready
but he seems like an extremely strong athlete with some good ball skills. crossing my fingers he can take those gifts and turn them into something
would be nice in 3 years time for him and halilovic to be causing chaos down both flanks
for now i’l ltake perisic and pjaca doing that though
Horvat, Pjaca will become a superstar!….truth is that fag ziva.
Pjaca has done very well with the little playing time he has been given. Fans are complaining why he isn’t playing more. I never realized how good this kid is. He’s fearless.
yo this dude is sad……mad lame…….i bet he laughs to himself in the morning thinking how hes gonna get on here. real life lame, pick the ball up go get some money maybe some pussy but i know thats a stretch.
mans got not much to do
hey loosing only 3-0 is pretty good i reckon for dinamo lol
shall we do our usual budding star hrvati report for champions league today???
for the diaspora croats who’s parents have failed them, a hrvat is a Croatian. or if you add the “I”, it becomes plural as in Croatians
marko pee-ass-A : 4 minutes. steps overs and falls down as usual. it’s like he’s a mix of Dario srna’s flopping with a young ivica olic’s stepover results
mateo krotch-does-itch: 0 minutes
tin jedva igra: (for diaspora that nickname means barely plays)…. barely played …as in didn’t play…. perhaps I should change his nickname to tin ne igra. for the diaspora who’s parents have failed them, “ne” means no in Croatian
and then we have dynamo itself! no explanation needed there. 3-0 defeat. ante cor-bitch nowhere to be found
wow. a lot of promise coming down the pipeline. at least we had luka modric and Mahir mandzukic lighting it up today…. oh wait
@Slavonac
“If this were Hajduk, you’d be happy they made it to the dance and you’d be singing a different tune!”
Well said, if it was Hajduk in the CL, you would not hear the end of it, even if they got crushed. All talk would be about Hajduk but nothing about the corruption with that team. Same old on here. Same old.
Lyon Dinamo 3 : 0
good comments Soul Champ…
man…Lyon is a pretty good team!
@ Slavonac
I watched that Red Bull Salzburg / Dinamo match with my 8 year old son and we were jumping up and down for Joy!
In his young Hrvat mind, Dinamo is from Croatia. Ofcourse Dieter Matesic is a Hrvat and there are Hrvati on Salzburg. But you get the point.
If Dinamo held onto there best players for the CL, they could make a Porto type run.
As soul sucking as the Mamic problem is … He is still a CROATIAN problem.
The deeper soul stunting issue in Croatia is that we have NON-Croatians in positions of political power. This simply cannot be going forward.
We need Croatian leadership to support Croatian sport and deal with Mamic from a Croatian perspective.
I would like to see a German type system for Croatian football and all sports to maximize our ability to produce world class athletes.
Then you can strengthen the domestic league and give rise to stronger clubs across HNL.
Also be cool to have like Red Bull Zadar and build up an entire football program in a region where there is talent but ZERO infrastructure.
We simply need the political will for Croatians to run out government. Put Suker and Mamic in their place and RISE as the world class nation we are destined to be.
So how about that Stipe, eh? 😀
Qualifying for the Champions League for the smaller clubs is currently a very similar system that the World Cup has.
It’s never the best 32 teams – it just allows for wider inclusion
You shouldn’t be disappointed if teams with payrolls 20 times greater than yours are beating you.
Mamic makes most of his money in player transfers of young Croatian talent. It is his main business.
His side job is building a team strong enough to qualify for Champions League money. He can’t do that without importing fairly cheap foreign talent, whereby he pays a little more in salary but it makes it worthwhile because he gets back millions in Euros from UEFA for qualifying.
When the new Champions League format changes in 2018-2019 ,it will be more difficult for any clubs outside of the top 4 leagues to qualify.
http://www.barcablaugranes.com/2016/8/27/12665710/uefa-announce-new-champions-league-format
Mamic will then realize that his side job will be gone. Very few minnows will be going to the group stage.
Don’t think it will be worth his while to have/keep these foreigners for Europa league money. Dinamo doesn’t make enough money on ticket sales.
In three years time, Dinamo will be mostly Croatian players once more.
Only reason Hajduk tries to strengthen it’s side with foreigners (and could keep up this practice) is for Europa League money, and ticket sales for those matches.
Every winter in Zagreb is cold. It’s the climate of the region.
If it wasn’t for Mamic croatia wouldn’t have a third of the talent we have…the dinamo academy is a factory Stamping out players.
Idemo,
I know plenty of Hajduk supporters who hate anything Dinamo Zagreb. And I’m sure the same could be said going the other way.
#sports
Highly doubt you’re in the minority supporting dinamo in Europe
Slavonac,
If this were Hajduk I’d be happy they were at the dance?
Yes. But only for the first season. I was happy when Dinamo made Champions League for the first time this decade 6 years ago. Why? Croatian football was in the CL. And it was the first time we got to report on it.
But after that, the entire “glitz and glamor” of CL gets thrown away when your team is getting crushed and you’re just “happy to be there.”
There’s an underlining two-tone “thing” going on in Croatian soccer that most, but not all, know about. You do.
You can love the team all you want, but many have boycotted Croatian football, players and all, until the Mamic situation continues.
And for that reason I mentioned Mamic, because wherever you go in Croatian fottball today, he’s that obnoxious dude casting a huge shadow over the entire operation.
And depending on your views
I’m a Croatian fan…Miocic made my week!
Slavonac is just being loyal to his own people…if hajduk was in champions league slavonac would cheer for them. We should all support dinamo at the present time.
Dinamo needs to be respected! Even that nut job Mamic has hurt and helped Croatian football at the same time. I love dinamo…but I will never cheer against anything Croatian regardless if it’s a team,player,sports.
Napoli beat Dynamo Kiev 2 – 1
More importantly:
Ante Kvartuč’s hero Ivan Strinić was nowhere to be found.
The nightmare is over.
P.S. Great work Slavonac, simply fantastic!
BTW – Celtic United is one of the most loved clubs in the world…they are currently losing 6-0 to Barca. They are playing in the CL and are a shit team in a big tourney…and thats what matters here.
@ Slavonac
My respect to you.
I am not Dinamo fan, but I wish those momci tons of luck.
Anonymous…you’re right, I apologize for my tone and language. sometimes I feel we are our own worst enemy. I love all Croatian teams and I may not like every players style, but I am always their fan cause of who we all are.
I got mad cause this topic is about Dinamo and the Champions League…then the jabs about Mamic…then Ante said his reasons for not feeling so optimistic!
regardless…I apologize for my tone and language!
Ante, you asked me ” what did I say that struck such a nerve to entice such a thorough response”!
you then go onto describe the so-called chances of a team like Dinamo and mentiones this “It’s not competitive. Which it’s not. I’d rather they play in Europa League where they can make a decent run, not get plastered 7-1 by Lyon like they did years ago.”….all a fair comment and perspective except for the fact that above in your article you bring up this… “But in the end, with Mamić at the helm, even the most hardcore Dinamo fans can’t be excited about Champions League.”…which is exactly why you wrote this article in the first place!
we can all agree to hate Mamic but its really not credible to say one thing (But in the end, with Mamić at the helm….) and then revert to my response to you and switch the response from a Mamic topic and introduce the fact that Dinamo qualified in a watered down Champions League pool. two totally different topics with two totally different meanings.
I am a soccer fan. I know Dinamo has little chance to do much, especially now that they sold off even more of their star players, but I still feel proud for them just as I would if it were Rijeka, Hajduk, Osijek or whoever flukily qualifies for a massive tournament. You’ll never see me say “oh great Hajduk made it to Europa league but it is all bullshit anyways because of how shitty their uprava is and that fact that they can’t keep a half decent player cause they have to sell and pay for the groundskeeper to cut the grass”!
maybe Dinamo’s Champions League record isn’t impressive, but most people involved in this sport respect them for qualifying.
You first made this about Mamic (But in the end, with Mamić at the helm…) and then shifted gears and said you don’t enjoy their shitty performance. I don’t buy it! respect the team and players and leave the soccer talk based on the games and the outcomes..then bring up the Mamic issue on another thread.
I have no expectations whatsoever for Dinamo in the Champions League. If they beat a team like Arsenal or barely lost to Olympiacos (2-1)…or lose 2-0 to Bayern…I take something from each game and can enjoy the fact that a small club from a country with 4.3 mill achieved a lot more than many other clubs from bigger countries.
If this were Hajduk, you’d be happy they made it to the dance and you’d be singing a different tune!
@ Slavonac
Since when is telling the truth “downplaying Dinamo’s achievement” or hating Dinamo. Typically Croatian. God forbid that we tell the truth or criticize. Automatically, person becomes enemy of anything that is Croatian. Prepare for attack. I am witnessing that all the time on this site.
The truth is that none our teams are on the Champions League level, not even Dinamo. We will watch the game because we love our team, not because it will be good game. Every team in the League is a mess, even Dinamo. The truth is that our stadiums are half full and joy is gone from game watching
I respect your comments on this site, but Ante didn’t deserve your attack. Not like that. He could put soft gloves and handle this truth “with care”, but he decided not to. You can disagree with him, but name calling – I didn’t expected from you.
@ slavonac,
Alright, I’ll bite.
What did I say that struck such a nerve to entice such a thorough response?
I imagine it was “it’s been anything but pleasant to watch.”
No matter what the payroll ratio is, Dinamo (and other smaller European sides) are getting crushed in CL. It’s not competitive. Which it’s not. I’d rather they play in Europa League where they can make a decent run, not get plastered 7-1 by Lyon like they did years ago.
And for the record, I am a Hajduk guy because my family is from Dalmacija, but I’m propbably in the minority when I say this, but I want all Croatian clubs to do well in europe, because it’s good for Croatian football as a whole. I want Dinamo to beat Juve. But it sucks when they lose 4-0.
Let’s look at the “out of town scoreboard”:
2015:
Dinamo beat Arsenal and was competitive in losing efforts at home, but lost 5-0, 3-0 to Bayern and Arsenal on the road.
2014:
Got dropped down to EL and nearly got through, finishing 3rd. Beat Celtic that year.
2013:Only got 1 point in EL in a group with PSV, Chornomorets and Ludogorets. Not impressive
2012: 1 point in CL in a group of Porto, PSG and Dynamo Kyiv. -18 goal differential.
Champions League has become watered down since the inception of the “Champions Route” 5-6 years ago. That means a team like Dinamo, Legia Warsaw, Copenhagen will always make the final 32. By default.
Not impressive in my eyes.
On a serious note, hasn’t the BBB made peace with Dinamo?
Are they not going to the games?
Mamić je kriv!
😉
“How many points do you see Dinamo picking up in this group?”
let’s see…you have a team that’s not even worth 1/10th the amount of any of their opponents and you’re trying to somehow compare or suggest they are losers even before they played their first game? If I didn’t think you were a dalmatinac I’d think you’re just a dummy or someone just baiting people into an argument but if I remember well, you are a Hajduk fan and dalmatinac and I see why you are blinded and clueless…your comments are ridiculous and not even on this stratosphere!
I said this last year when Dinamo qualified and I’ll say this any time they do…the fact that they qualified is a MAJOR accomplishment on so many levels. Only a jealous person would write such a negative write up. You have more hatred for Dinamo and the organization because you’re a Hajduk fan…its always been like that, regardless of if Mamic is there or not!
Downplaying this achievement to qualify just goes to show how out of touch you are Ante. It also shows you have no respect for Croatian kids that play for Dinamo.
I used to cheer for Hajduk when they played in Europe. Many of you here have made it harder for me to respect them. Over the course of the past few years we’ve seen a lot of circus act at Hajduk and Poljud. Not only are they mismanaged and misrepresented on all levels of their organization, they are sore losers and have fuck all to blame anyone else about…but you still seem to find a way to divert your failures and put attention on Dinamo themself! what the fuck does Dinamo have to do with your own failures? write a goddam story on the corruption and ineptness of that shithole club you cheer for. explain the details of their CORRUPTION and failures because of their shitty people they hire to run that sorry excuse of a club! talk about the dismal transfer fees, the shitty coaches, the uprava, the squad, the swastika incident at poljud….talk about the facts of why they are such a damn disappointment…but leave Dinamo out of it cause thats all you ever do!
what a fucking nightmare dude, you really crossed the line once again!
Ovca!