…the reigning Croatian champions are still in the the thick of two competitions. How? I have no idea.
Despite selling Livaković, Šutalo, and Ivanušec in the summer, which is basically half your squad, and playing without Bruno Petković lately, Dinamo are somehow only trailing their Prva Liga and Conference League competition by small margins. Although Dinamo have already been beaten by Hajduk twice this season and just recently lost to Gorica while drawing Varaždin, they only trail 1st place Hajduk by seven points. That may seem like a lot, however, Dinamo have two games in hand which means they have the ability to close that gap down to one pretty quickly with victories.
Dinamo should easily be 10+ points behind first place in Croatia but they’re still pestering the rest of the league in arguably their worst start to a season this century. Their match against Rijeka this Sunday will show what kind of team Dinamo is without their Croatian internationals. A victory or draw and they will be completely fine. But a loss will start shaping up a 2-horse race between Hajduk and Rijeka. However, it’s still early in the season with all the top clubs dropping points on a regular basis.
On the European side of things, Dinamo has now lost three straight Conference League matches. Two straight to Czech club Viktoria Plzen and a loss to Ballkani on October 5th. However, despite an absolutely atrocious Conference League campaign, Dinamo sit only one point behind Astana and Ballkani; whom they still have to play. That means if Dinamo can rattle off two victories against clubs from Kosovo and Kazakhstan, they will punch their ticket to the Conference League knockout round playoff after the New Year.
Absolute shit start to the season for Dinamo but I guess you can call them lucky with how they’re currently sitting in both campaigns. It can quickly turn around this weekend against Rijeka, for better or for worse. But if they can’t beat Ballkani on home soil and Astana (who they have already steamrolled three times this year), then they can start to hit the PANIC BUTTON. But for now, outside forces are keeping Dinamo afloat.
Random thought.
Like many of you here, I had thought qualification for EURO2024 was a certainty. Imo, if we somehow manage to qualify directly, Dalic should make a special pilgrimage to Medjugorje to mark the occasion.
Even with Pukštaš back, Hajduk is struggling to score.
I’ll stay with my prediction of them winning the division this time, but wouldn’t bet on it.
It’s easy to be a good at something when everyone else is slightly less shitty