Dinamo Zagreb have beaten Kauno Žalgiris 7-1 on aggregate to proceed to the UEFA Champions League play-off round! Željko Sopić and his Lithuanian side drop down to the Europa League play-off. The second leg finished 2-1 Dinamo and was much tighter than expected as goalkeeper Ivan Filipović got sent off after a poor run-out where he collected a Žalgiris attacker in the 32nd minute.
But two goals were scored before the red card from Lukas Kačavenda and Josip Mišić (a beautiful goal). The hosts got one back in the 56th minute from Gabriel Debeljuh. No more goals were scored as Dinamo was able to hold on to the victory with 10 men, which is another 0.250 points added to our coefficient!
In the play-off for the UCL League Stage, Dinamo will face Norwegian champions Viking FK, who edged Bodø/Glimt to the title last year. Won’t be an easy task, especially away in the 2nd leg of the tie.
Women’s Europa Cup Draw for Hajduk and Agram
After winning their UWCL Mini-tournament 3rd place play-off vs. Mura, ŽNK Hajduk Split dropped down to join Croatian Cup winner, ŽNK Agram, in the first qualifying round of the Europa Cup. Both Croatian sides were unseeded for the draw and have gotten tough opponents.
Hajduk will face Danish side Fortuna Hjørring, who has fallen in quality since the beginning of the new decade. The Danish club played in the final of the UEFA Women’s Cup (now called ‘UEFA Women’s Champions League’) back in 2003. After that, they were a consistent side in the top European competition until 2021, when they last made it to the UWCL. Last season, after winning the Danish league title after a five-year drought, they made it to the Europa Cup Round of 16, where they lost to Breiðablik. It will be a tough task for the Croatian champions, but they’ve shown they can play. The first leg is in Split, the second in Denmark.
Agram got Belarusian side FC Minsk, who had their best result in Europe in the 2019/2020 season as they made it to the UWCL Round of 16, where they got knocked out by Barcelona. But after that, they’ve struggled to even qualify for the top competition again and have been regularly getting knocked out in the 1st qualifying rounds since 2021. Last season, they dropped down to the Europa Cup, where they lost to PSV in the Round of 32. Still a team with much more experience and probably quality than Agram, who last season were destroyed in the UWCL qualifiers by Athlone Town. The Zagreb side play the first leg away, while the return leg will be in the Croatian capital.
Brilliant goal by baturina. He has that ability but doesn’t really try things like that often. He was pissed off as an Arsenal player caught him in the face and the referee gave the free kick to Arsenal. Two minutes later he did that.
Fabregas has taught him to be super responsible, hard working, team player. Which is great for his development. Next stage is to take more risks and make things happen in the opposition box more often. More goals and assists
Croatian players are excited this season. They want to be part of the Bilic revolution. Exciting times
His stamina and toughness were always in doubt, and Baturina ended up turning these two weaknesses into his strength.
He just goes at any player (in this case, two players) and uses his body to shield and win possession every single time.
Just to add to this…
Baturina and Sučić are very offensively aggressive players, which is a welcome change to the very passive players we’ve had in the past.
Add in (hopefully) Stojković and Jagušić (assuming they continue to develop) and we’ll have a pretty nice collection of offensively oriented midfield always looking to score.
Bati was just as aggressive and excellent at shielding the ball when he played for Dinamo.
Agreed.
Obviously the player has to work hard to overcome weaknesses. But how much, if any, of that turnaround could be attributed to Cesc and good coaching at Como?
It seems Baturina’s people moved him to the right organization at the right time. It was, at that time, a mid-table Serie A team. But the organization, from the top down, has been excellent, or so it seems.
I look at a player like Sutalo. Ajax has been an organizational disaster . . . a number of different coaches . . . no continuity on the field, players arriving and leaving, almost everything always unsettled . . .
Hopefully Brighton works out like Como, and Vuskovic is in a good place.
Baturina had a similar youth career to Mateo Kovačić where they both received a lot of underserved hype for their great skill, before actually doing anything on the field for their clubs.
This will always bring out the critics, and Baturina had a lot of them.
The fact that there weren’t too many suitors for him last summer at the price Dinamo wanted, plus being benched for the first half of the season (on a recently promoted team that wasn’t considered a top team in Serie A) probably triggered something in him to prove all the doubters wrong.
He’s proven that he’s mentally stronger than people thought, and he’s done a great job shutting people up.
Kova as an 18 year old at Inter was awesome.
Zanetti called him the future captain of the club. Said he’d lead them for the next decade.
As previewed
Baturina with world class
https://x.com/risingstarxi/status/2087620241757024710?s=46
BATI-GOOOOOL!!!
Loving his knack for scoring against them Brits.
Baturina and Petar Sučić will make us forget about Modrić pretty quickly.
We just need a third one (Jagušić, Stojko, Levak?) to break out into stardom and complete the trifecta, so we can move on from Kovačić too.
😜
Looking back to where we’ve come from, we need four top midfielders at least . . . In the great run of 2018, we had Modric, Rakitic, Broz and Kova . . . The extra depth is needed in this day and age with all the extra games and the injuries.
What’s interesting, is that just a little over two years ago, when we were discussing the future, it was all Luka Sucic. In the opinion of some here, he WAS the future. Liverpool was even said to be interested.
Now he is not even on Maminjo’s list.
And for good reason. I get it.
I understand why.
His stock has dropped dramatically, his transfer fee value plummeted. He rates much lower than Baturina and Petar Sucic, and is well behind them after their great seasons in Serie A.
But is there reason for more optimism?
Does Luka Sucic have the skills and the ability and the mental fortitude to still be a Croatian star?
I think his acceleration is very good, he seems to have the speed. He has a powerful foot, and is a scoring threat from outside. He appears to have good vision around him, I have seen him make some great passes, he has the passing skills a midfielder needs.
He got off to a poor start last season. He also had the problem with Dalic. The downward momentum seemed to snowball for a time, before it stabilized.
He is on a good team in a top league and is still young. Do we still see him as having potential? Could he have a break out year like Petar Sucic and Baturina had last season? Is it a make or break season this year for his career?
I’m hoping he has a comeback season, and makes the case that he is a top midfielder, that he steps up to the level that Petar Sucic and Baturina are at right now.
I also still remember watching Majer almost single handedly take on Bayern Munich a couple of years back when he was by far and away the best player for Wolfsburg, and maybe the best player on the field that day. He was dangerous, he was explosive, he was everywhere.
Then came the terrible injuries. I am hoping for better things from Majer this season, even though he has moved to a lesser league. Is a healthy and in form Majer still a player who can help the NT in the midfield, even coming off the bench? I would think so . . . But maybe the injuries took too great a toll.
I liked Luka Sučić, but I always said that Croatia is a midfield factory and if you coast during your development, then someone will pass you by (like it just happened to Majer).
To be fair to Luka Sučić, he had a serious knee injury that required surgery, so that took him down a peg.
I’m usually very pessimistic when a young star tears something in their knee. It kills just so many young players’ careers.
I agree with the need for depth, and we’ll continue to get more youngsters coming in.
I’m not worried about our depth. I just want our top end talent (Vušković, P.Suċić, Baturina, Gvardiol) to get to World Class level, and the depth can help support them.
Bati + Paz vs. that micro London club 14:30 Tuesday
Balogun desperate to join the biggest club in London – can’t blaim him
Franjo should have waited couple more days could have gone to beautiful South of France (1000x nicer than Croatian coast) than crap Northern France lol
This comment pretty much confirms youre not at all Croatian background lol
Was trying to bait the kids to freak out again hehehe
But nobody rationale would pick Lens > Monaco
Board member forced to resign
Thx for playing kids