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Kramarić Hat Trick earns Rijeka 1st EL win, Dinamo fall in Salzburg

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EL: Rijeka srušila Feyenoord, 'hat-trick' Kramariæa

HNK Rijeka was the pride of Croatia today.

Rijeka stepped up on the European stages and flexed their muscles against Dutch club, Feynoord, winning the match 3-1 thanks to three goals from Rijeka superstar, Andrej Kramarić.

Kramarić has been on a tear this season, scoring goals every chance he gets.

With his 14 goals in the HNL in only 12 matches, Kramarić has added six goals in this Europa League campaign.

Rijeka believes they can stand with any competition at Kantrida, and they are consistently proving that right.

rijeka

Kramarić played an impressive match, scoring his hat trick in only 13 minutes.

He opened the scoring in the 63rd minute of play and quickly scored again in the 70th minute and again in the 76th minute from a penalty shot.

“It’s nice to score three goals Europe, but I must stress that the victory is what is important,” Kramarić said. It was not easy. Feyenoord was a little surprised with my game in the first half hour. Fortunately, we created several chances. The great crowd and atmosphere surely helped us as well.”

Ivan Vargić was there to do his part as well.

Soon after Kramarić scored his first goal, Feynoord equalized in the 66th minute. Vargić was there to make the necessary saves after that.

Rijeka has one loss, one draw, and now one win in their group stage this season.

Dinamo Zagreb on the other hand did not fair as well in their third match of the Europa League.

dinamo

The Croatian champions traveled to Salzburg to face Red Bull, but came home after conceding four goals.

As they say, “Red Bull gives you wings.”

Salzburg did all but fly away during the match, and dominated almost the entire 90 minutes of the game against the Croatians.

It would have been better for Dinamo if the game was never played. Pouring rain threatened the match, which whether to play or not was a game time decision.

Only 90 minutes before kickoff, it was announced that the game would go on, and Dinamo and Red Bull took to a soaked pitch in the rain.

Salzburg went up 4-0 until in the 86th minute when Arijen Ademi was able to salvage a goal and some respect for the Modri.

Manchester United loanee, Angelo Henriquez, also salvaged a goal in the 89th minute to finish the game 4-2, but wasn’t enough and Dinamo has a long road ahead of them if they plan to keep playing European football after the winter break.

Dinamo will get a second chance at Salzburg in the return leg on Nov. 6 at Maksimir Stadium while Rijeka will travel to Holland to face Feynoord again on the same day.

  • I always felt like Balaban had a broom-stick up his ass when he ran…he was physically strong and some good positional play but nothing special

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  • Most of these “countless” flops (there really weren’t that many) were not very good to begin with.

    Balaban was mediocre at best. Averaged like a goal every four games. That’s definitely not good enough… Especially when compared to what Kramarić has done.

    Yes Marić and Bišćan were solid HNL players who flopped. But they were the exception, not the rule.

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  • is the jury out on Brozovic yet…I ask this cause I’ve only seen him a few times and its hard to judge when in some cases, the entire team was bad…not just him. he has been average at best…how does the media rate him?

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  • Agree with Ivica A.

    A lot of youngsters get over rated. Brozovic for example.

    However, I think Kramaric is the real deal.

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  • I think the real problem is our media hypes some guys up wayyyyyyyy too much.

    Vukusic (36 goals in 84 apperances) and Balaban (pretty solid HNL career and 40 goals in 5 years at Brugge) were talented guys in the HNL and definitely some of the top players in the league at each of there respective times…. but some of the young guys hit their ceiling in the HNL while others continue to grow once they move out.

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  • @Armada

    Re: your comment…
    we’ve seen countless times a player light up the HNL and falls flat in a big boy league”

    I don’t think this is true.
    There are a lot of guys who were overhyped while playing in the HNL, but never did anything in the HNL to warrant the big move before falling flat. They were far from “lighting it up” in the HNL before they were sold.

    Balaban, Kalinić, Vukušić, are a few examples of guys that were never really that good to begin with, but were sold for decent money and fell flat. Kalinić scored almost as many penalties as real goals in the HNL, garnering him the nickname Penalinić. I remember Hajduk fans hating him. Balaban had one decent season where he scored only 14 goals and was sold to England. Vukušić was never a prolific scorer, even at Hajduk.

    I think success in the HNL is actually a good measure for young talent. The problem is, a lot of outside clubs didn’t do their homework and jumped on the hype without even watching many HNL games.

    I think what Kramarić is doing at Rijeka shows that he’s pretty legit. He won’t fall flat on his face.

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  • Armada- I’m all for the guy moving on and yes, from the little I’ve seen it looks like he has many tools but a new environment can be either amazing and even better…or a complete nightmare, it depends on the team and coach.

    I hope, wherever he goes, he plays for a team that doesn’t try to reinvent him, that could be a catastrophe for him.

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  • @ Slavonac

    I’m not going to be a homer and claim Krama is going to be the next great player … but he does have all the tools and has shown both at the NT level and club level vs. decent competition both last year and this year in the EL that he can do it…. I think that Inter move would be good for him as he could learn from Mateo and he has a good head on his shoulders and could hopefully help him adjust to playing in Milan

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  • I agree Armada and from the little I’ve seen, I do like many of Kramaric’s abilities but a true test is not him playing at Rijeka, he has to play with and against better competition to see his true value as a player!

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  • I think Kramaric is more complete than Mandzukic, but I think the real test will be how he develops once he leaves Rijeka… we’ve seen countless times a player light up the HNL and falls flat in a big boy league… I really really really hope he goes into a good situation where he gets a decent check, gets some time and has the trust of his manager… People forget, Andrej is 23 already and he doesn’t have that time to go to a club, get buried on the bench, potentially get loaned out 2-3 times and THEN hit his peak… Kid has a big decision ahead of him once Rijeka get some juicy offers

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  • kramaric seems a potentially much better all around scorer than mandzo. the play of his that still sticks out to me is against malta at the top fo the box where he played with ball with a bunch of defenders and then chipped the ball off the cross bar.

    when it comes to clinic finishing off service though, few better in the world than mandzukic. with their head, maybe nobody

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  • Kramaric is definitely a starter.

    What a gift to the national team.

    A few months ago, who would have thought we were going to have such a great addition to the team.

    Not only a goal scorer, but a great all round player as well.

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  • ok does kramaric in your guys opinion warrant starts now?

    can he and super mario play together? he seems to be more talented with the ball at his feet then super mario

    and you guys were worried about a striker… obviously he is not a star yet but damnit he got potential and deserves more playing time for the repka for sure

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  • ya that was interesting how the author thought he has more talent

    of course the kid was obviously special from a young age and always was the star every where he went… barcelona signs him… cro/bosnia both bending over to get him…

    and i agree let him be cocky but you are given a good chance and you know they will try to bring you up… just shut up work hard and show your shit now… the world will notice

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  • Well, at least the writers of the article seem to think that guys like Giovani dos Santos, Bojan Krkic and Jeffren Suarez never had the talent that Halilovic does.

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  • I like a kid with his talent being a bit cocky and unsatisfied. Let him stay hungry. But hopefully also stay at Barcelona and develop

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  • I have my doubts about how factual that article about the half bosandzero really is, but let’s assume it is.

    It wouldn’t be a shock he would feel like that. He got called up to the repka and hasn’t shown anything on the field in his young career that warrants a call up to the senior side. So, no wonder he would have an overvalued sense of self worth.

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  • You asked for it and you received it. When they play in Europe they will be referred to as Europski dinamo. When in the HNL, they will be called Dinamo.

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  • can we call them dinamo with a small d soon ziva? lolol
    but maybe they need to lose some and hopefully mamic will stop raping players and get the fuck out of there

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  • what would be the chances of kek being the coach? slim to none
    that was a legit goal… ziva can’t say anything cause it was outside the box!
    what would be the best league for kramaric to go to? obviously he won’t be staying much longer in cro… unfortunately could be some pretty competitive teams if teams could find a way to keep domaci players in the country

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  • I did not see the game today but man am I happy for the kid…I hope he signs a nice contract somewhere else in Europe!

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  • If only HNS and HNL were organised and not corrupt Croatia would be a great national team But Lack of leadership in HNS just money hungry fuck results just qualify and make me money. I can see a very strong Croatia team but it will never happen until mafia and commies and tatini sinovi and Kumovi are out of football.

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  • BTW – Inter is also playing right now. Kovacic doing his thing. They really need a good striker, Kramaric comes to mind.

    🙂
    .

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  • Svaka cast NK RIjeka for producing talent and recognizing talent Vargic Leskovic Mitrovic Leovac Males Mocinic Kramaric Tomecak Future players Datkovic Milos Candija

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  • http://hooliganstv.com/group-of-armada-rijeka-attacked-fans-from-feyenoord-in-a-bar-21-10-2014/

    Around 30 fans from Rotterdam sit on pub terraces. Later on 19:00 – 20:00h ~40 Armada came. Feyenoord supporters threw few bottles, ran inside pub and blocked the door with table. Armada didn’t want to destroy that bar, they were calling them out, but Rotterdam didn’t want to exit. Police came in 10 minutes and everything ended.

    Who attacked who?

    Tittle is wrong?

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  • Slovan Bratislava – Prague game ended early because of crowd trouble…

    What is going on in the world? Can we all just get along?

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  • @ Mishko Kramas Father is his agent his dad refused to sign with Mamic so Krama got punished should have been on national team from euro 2012 imo good player

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  • It easy being a fan and couch coach but come on Kramric should have went to 2014 what a wasted tournamnet HNS PEDERI shit man imagine a team at WC that should have played every coach but Bilic and Ciro have made these mistakes imagine a team at 2014 if the beat 11 played
    Subasic-Srna Carli Sifo Vrsaljko- Modric Kovacic Rakitic Perisic Kramaric Mandzukic with dida Olic Eduardo Rebic Halilovic off bench

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