Hajduk Stun Pafos as Croatia Sweeps First Legs in Europe!

A brilliant night for Croatian football and our club coefficients! Three of our clubs played their first legs in the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League, respectively. Hajduk Split beat Pafos 2-0, Rijeka got a 1-0 win over Derry City, and Varaždin won a 3-2 thriller vs. a very physical Jablonec.

Brilliant Hajduk: Best European Game since Vitoria Guimarães

Over 27,000 Hajduk fans welcomed last season’s Champions League team, Pafos. Before the first whistle, Gonzalo Garcia was announced by the stadium’s announcer and was welcomed with boos from a good portion of the fans. But Garcia later showed why he should be trusted by every single Hajduk supporter.

Hajduk took the initiative from the get-go and controlled the tempo of the game, as they had the majority of the possession in the first half. There were no real shots on goal that forced a save, though Michele Šego had a few good chances at the far post from crosses, arriving just a second too late each time. Still, Hajduk kept Pafos quiet and entered the break in good spirits.

The second half continued where the first one ended; Hajduk started piling on the pressure, and it paid off in the 56th minute as they won a free-kick on the edge of the box. Šego took it and scored beautifully as the ball went in off the crossbar. Hajduk didn’t sit back after that; Garcia insisted on continuing the pressure, and nine minutes later, Dario Melnjak got on the end of a low cross and sent the ball into the far corner for 2-0.

After that goal, the game calmed down, and Pafos tried to fight back but failed to create anything, as Hajduk’s defence always got the better of each duel or second ball. The second leg is in a week’s time in Limassol, Cyprus. As a reminder, the winner of this tie goes up against RB Salzburg in the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League.

Toni Fruk.

Rijeka started the game vs. Derry City in front of a home crowd of 5,844, as expected, on the front foot. But in the first half, Kek’s men failed to create anything meaningful, as a lot of shots were modest or ended up being blocked. In the 40th minute, captain Michael Duffy almost shocked the hosts as he got the ball on the left-hand side of the box, cut inside past Tiago Dantas and sent his shot just wide of the target. That was it for the first half.

In the second 45, Rijeka left-back Mladen Devetak immediately threatened keeper Brian Maher, who saved his shot. But the Derry goalkeeper was unable to do much about Toni Fruk, who got the ball at the top of the box unmarked after a poor reaction from Derry’s defence. Rijeka’s star put it into the back of the net without much trouble and broke the deadlock. Rijeka had two more good chances after that — the first was a wonder it didn’t end up in the net. After a quick counter-attack, Amer Gojak squared it for Daniel Adu-Adjei, who beat the keeper, but a defender cleared it off the line. The ball then fell for Niko Janković, whose volley from 3 yards out was brilliantly kept out by a quick reaction from Maher.

In the dying moments, Justas Lasickas had a chance to double Rijeka’s lead and give his team a comfortable two-goal cushion, but he was unable to properly connect with the ball in front of an almost entirely empty goal. Nevertheless, Rijeka won the first leg, and Matjaž Kek’s return to the helm started on a positive note. The return leg is next Thursday at 19:30 CET in Derry, Northern Ireland. Stjarnan or Ilves await the winner of the tie.

Varaždin 3-2 Jablonec: Open Play > Set-pieces

The game that started first was easily the most entertaining one. Nikola Šafarić fielded a very familiar team, with only one new signing involved: left-back Elvir Duraković, whose debut was sadly cut short by an injury in the first half. Josip Silić started in goal instead of the usual Oliver Zelenika, who is likely to leave the club soon.

The hosts started the match nervously, getting two yellow cards in the opening 15 minutes. But that didn’t matter much, as Ivan Canjuga brilliantly found Iuri Tavares in the 24th minute with an amazing over-the-top ball. The former Cape Verde international slotted it home and gave Varaždin the lead. However, that lead didn’t last long, as Jablonec whipped in a cross from a free-kick, which dropped for Martin Cedidla, who equalised in the 27th minute. And that’s how the game went into the break.

The second half started with Josip Silić stopping Lamin Jawo in a one-on-one in the 51st minute. Five minutes later, Jablonec took the lead as centre-back Nemanja Tekijaški was left unmarked on the far post on a corner and headed the ball into the far corner for 1-2 to the Czechs. Just 10 minutes later, Canjuga again got the ball, saw Ivan Mamut making a run and delivered a perfect cross from the right-hand side, which Mamut simply redirected with the top of his head over keeper Jan Hanuš for 2-2.

Varaždin continued looking for the winner, which they found in the 82nd minute as Frane Maglica got in behind his defender and found an unmarked Luka Mamić at the top of the box, who scored the winner and sent the home crowd into delirium. A brilliant game from Varaždin, as they beat the slightly favoured Czech side on pure class. Defending set-pieces was already Šafarić’s main focus in training, but ahead of the second leg they’ll have to double down on that, as the Czechs scored both their goals from them. Other than that, Varaždin were better in every other aspect. If Varaždin see this through next week, they’ll most likely face Latvian side RFS, who beat IF Vestri 4-1 in their first encounter.

Great Week for Croatian Clubs

Croatian clubs this week earned 0.875 coefficient points out of a possible 1. Dinamo’s draw vs. Thun is the only “bad” result. It’s not something we see often, but all three clubs deserved to win and got those wins. The biggest surprise is definitely Hajduk, who came into this tie as underdogs but have turned that on its head and now have Pafos on the ropes. But Hajduk can’t let this amazing win, in my opinion the best in Europe since the 3-1 victory over Vitoria Guimarães in 2022 under Valdas Dambrauskas, go to waste.

Rijeka, meanwhile, just need to take care of business; they’re the favourites against Derry City and have to get the job done no matter what. But they’ll want to be sharper in front of goal than they were tonight; missing the chances to make it 2-0 through Janković and Lasickas is the kind of profligacy that can let a lesser side back into a tie.

Varaždin will have to be wary heading into the second leg. Last season, a 2-0 loss at Santa Clara was anything but a fair fight, with the hosts seemingly doing everything they could to throw the HNL side off their game. European away nights can turn hostile regardless of the opponent, and Šafarić’s team have to be ready for that kind of atmosphere in Jablonec without letting it affect their mental state as they intend to keep their lead.