What a phenomenal performance by Hajduk Split on home soil!
After conceding in the 61st minute of the match, Hajduk bounced back with three second half goals to take the first leg against Vitoria in Conference League qualifying! In front of a wonderful Poljud crowd, Hajduk completely controlled the match with 54% possession and 6 shots on target while holding Vitoria to only one shot through 90 minutes of action.
After Maga opened the scoreline for Vitoria with an outrageous strike, Emir Sahiti answered only six minutes later with a tap-in goal after Marko Livaja hit the far post. In the 75th minute, Dario Melnjak proved to be Hajduk’s hero once again with a terrific 1v1 finish off a bouncing volley inside the box. Just over 10 minutes later, Filip Krovinović sealed the victory with a terrific left-footed, near post strike. Hajduk will enter the second leg with a two-goal advantage over the Portuguese side.
CroatianSports Man of the Match: Filip Krovinović – what a performance from the attacking midfielder. If he keeps up his current form, clubs from all around Europe will come knocking.
So fun fact, if noone has mentioned this already. But Marin Ljubicic is on loan from Hajduk to LASK has 6 goals so far, highest goal scorer currently in Austrian Bundesliga.
Might be worth a call up this season if this form continues for him
I have to say 6 goals plus 1 goal in the Europa League is something to boast about, it’s only the start of the season.
Only problem is we have the UNL games in September and that’s pretty much it until World Cup.
Dalić already said that it’s hard to make the team (but also hard to be removed from the team)…so I can’t see him calling up Ljubičić, unless he somehow continues this scoring streak at which point it will be too tough to ignore.
Even then he may still only get a standby callup.
Marin ljubicic absolutely smashing it. Two hatricks in his first 5 games!! Some really good link up play and skills too. Very impressed
*** HYPE TRAIN ALERT!!! ***
9 goals in 4 games for LASK Linz!
To put things into context…
1. This is FIRST division Austria, and Ljubicic is playing for a team that’s in the upper tier of that league (LASK has been playing in Europa the past few years now).
2. He’s scoring against teams that are actually pretty good. His four-goal game yesterday was against Wolfsberger AC. Wolfsberger is a Europa caliber team (that Dinamo had in their group a couple years ago) who made it to the knockout rounds. He also scored against Austria Vienna last week (another decent club).
3. Ljubicic hasn’t even been playing the full games. He’s played a total of about 250 minutes (a little over 60 minutes per match).
The guy scores his goals, then takes a rest for the last half hour of each game. Probably has a bevanda and cigarette while reading Sportske Novosti on the sidelines as his teammates play on.
4. Ljubicic so far (9 goals) has somehow already hit the halfway point of what Roko Simic did all of last year (19 goals).
We all are impressed with Roko and consider him a high end prospect, but he was still only playing at Leifering (in the 2nd division) and needs to do the same this year in the first division. If Roko was putting up 9 goals in 4 games this year, we would have anointed him the next Zlatan.
Now that we’ve overhyped Marin Ljubicic, watch him go on a goal less drought, ha ha.
I know I’m perceived as anti Hajduk but the truth is I’m just against those that shit talk Dinamo.
I can’t understand how Ljubicic was loaned in order to get him playing time when he was doing ok at Hajduk? Yes, I know all of you see how much I dislike N Kalinic and I often mention him in a negative way…it’s because Kalinic has always played below his potential, except at Fiorentina! Since then he was garbage and then let’s not forget his baby attitude at the World Cup! He was doing terrible in Verona and then somehow people tried to make it look like his homecoming back to Hajduk was supposed to be a great move? Well, according to what reports I saw online, he’s the highest paid Hajduk player and has been injured 3 times since he arrived last winter break and with the inclusion of him in the Hajduk lineup, Ljubicic lost his minutes on the field! To me, that’s a bad decision! No matter how many goals he scores this year, if Hajduk doesn’t progress in Europe and if they don’t win the league, this return to Hajduk is a mistake! Ljubicic is young and feisty! He loves Hajduk like a mother loves their child and I thought between himself, Sahiti and Biuk, they could have interchanged and his development at his beloved club should have continued!
Well if he continues to score in the Austrian Bundesliga, then it all worked out for the better.
This could have easily been a disaster move, prematurely going to a new team, when he should have stayed for another development year at Hajduk.
But now it looks like he’s scoring goals in a better league already, and just fast tracked his development and first NT cap.
I’m pretty sure LASK is already preparing the paperwork for that option-to-buy that they have in the loan agreement.
The option to buy is only 2.4 million euros.
Typical Hajduk, lol. Oh well. I only care for the National Team, so his development is more important than Hajduk getting a proper transfer fee. Glad he’s doing well at LASK.
Going to the Austrian league is a lot safer for a player like him than in Germany or some other big 5 league. I just felt he was pushed aside to make room for Kalinic!
To be honest it is hard to say when someone should leave and go to another league and when they should stay. Arguably both Livaja and Orsic should consider moving to another league, in my opinion, if this season goes well for them at their respective clubs.
This is just for the matter of personal development and for the development of the National team.
I think these moves to different clubs don’t necessarily work out for many players, few people can pull off what Modric did, for example, and make it big at a club like Real Madrid. Even Kovacic struggled with that. But I don’t think that it means that they aren’t good players in their own right.
As far as the losing minutes part, that argument doesn’t really stand because he is over contributing in stats with the amount of minutes played even if though he is playing less. So in actuality, that fact would lend more support to the argument against you.
So I am not sure what to make of your argument??? Is this really because your a Dinamo fan and dislike Hajduk or because you don’t think that what Ljubicic is doing is worth consideration?? Not sure. Being a Hajduk fan, if this was someone from Dinamo I would automatically be saying call up, regardless of the club name. You have to remember as well, that when Sucic scored 9ish goals last season, we are saying call up. So this guy in 3 games or so, is already there. Nothing taken away from Sucic I still want him to be called up, and I hope that has a good season again with Salzburg.
Well I am anti Hajduk, I think they’re a joke of a club, really, they’re a disgrace, they bring the HNL into disrepute as their supposed second biggest club, they’re satisfied with thinking that they have a rivalry with Dinamo when Dinamo couldn’t give a shit about them, and they don’t even care about trying to win a league title for their stupidly loyal fans, look at this Ljubicic now, he should still be at the fucking club trying to win a title for that little club and their fans, I could go on but I think that’s enough.
Hajduk is a joke, have they even done anything since Asanovic left? Seriously I stopped watching the little league (HNL) years ago.
Now tell us how you really feel 🙂
Oh sorry Crnkovic I didn’t read your post so I posted above lol.
Any reason Kovacic an unused sub?
We can all agree that Hajduk is shit and will more than likely never win another league title in our lifetimes, but still, poor little Hajduk shouldn’t cop players like Krovinovic using them to try get back into a proper league, but instead they should demand total committment from him in their pursuit of a league title, if that is even a goal for poor little Hajduk anymore.
After the season if Filip has done well, and only then, should he be allowed to entertain the idea of playing in a proper league again.
Kramarić opens the season with an assist. This Croatian team really does have the deepest lineup of any in history. It’s up to Dalić to make it work now. The skill level of the players is high enough to contend in Qatar.
Agreed. We are very deep. Could be the best squad we field ever. Some would argue the 2008 team but with Eduardo’s leg shattered that put an end to that.
I’d love to go back in time with a healthy Eduardo, in my mind we would have won the damn tournament.
I agree. That team was stacked! And more importantly, they played really well together. I think this team has even more skilled individuals, but the question is whether they can all fit into a winning team. Some elite players are going to have to come off the bench, and some will have to accept not playing at all unless there are injuries that force them into action. That’s where I hope Dalić’s relationship management skills will help, as they did in Russia. If he can get everyone to accept their responsibilities to the team, and keep out any bad attitudes, he can take them back to the final
Yes indeed. Great post. @tgad
The 1996, 1998, 2008, 2016 and 2018 teams were all contenders.
If we had Eduardo in 2008, we win that thing (or narrowly lose to Spain in the Final).
Same argument could be made for not having prime Boksic in ’96 or ’98.
We were very unfortunate in the game against Germany in ’96 despite Boksic’s head injury.
That Portugal game in 2016 was a shame too. Winner of that match was going straight to the Final (after Belgium choked against Wales)…and Portugal goes ahead and wins it.
Not even gonna talk about Turkey in 2008, lol.
Hopefully we ride this recent wave of contender-ship and make another deep run in 2022.
We have the players, and they seem to be gelling at the right time after what we saw in the recent UNL games.
@maminjo.
Yep, nailed it bro
Stanisic shoud go to dinamo or hajduk..he is too good to be sitting on bench all the time.
Needs to go to either a mid table or a bottom half team in one of the top 4 leagues, Cro league is too much of a downgrade for him.
I was impressed with Hajduk win yesterday! I was expecting Vitoria to control the play but it was far from that…Hajduk was pressing way high and every time they lost the ball they got it back quickly. In the first half there were very few chances for Hajduk and when Vitoria scored, I almost felt like that’s what needed to happen to get them really pushing forward!
In the second half Hajduk looked really good! Biuk was always looking to make something happen and he almost created a goal from a cross while two players really didn’t make their runs and get in the end of it! Livaja was being chopped all game, Krovinovic made some nice passes and came deep into his own end to transition the play. Grgic was great, Melnjak did what he has been doing even since he got to Hajduk. If anything, he deserves a call up over anyone but Sosa on the left! I haven’t seen any of our in form defenders except for Sosa be that dangerous going forward….damn he’s been a blessing to Hajduk.
Overall, the ref was obviously biased and it really pissed me off. Forget about the hand balls…every call in open play went to Vitoria except when it was an obvious chop on a Hajduk player!
Today Dinamo tied Varazdin and as much as I love Dinamo, I want to see them challenged. Also, I hope for once all Croatians can unite and wish the best for our clubs in Europe. Last night I read about a BBB fan congratulating Hajduk and so were many others…that’s how it should be!
I’m a Hajduk fan, but watch and support all our clubs when they play in Europe. We are all Croatian and should support each other, rather than fighting in streets or highways around Croatia as is the case at the moment. The better all our clubs do in Europe will improve our coefficient, meaning more clubs playing in European competitions, more money flowing into the game for development of players, coaches and the infrastructure.
This season I think that Hajduk has a chance of toppling Dinamo.
The squad is stronger than in previous years, the coaching staff appear to know what they are doing in terms of playing tactics and more importantly recruitment of players. As much as I would like Hajduk to go past Vitoria and than to beat Villarreal, I have to be realistic and say that this is highly unlikely in the case of Villarreal ? Not playing in group stages of UEFA competitions will enable Hajduk to concentrate on the domestic league.
Dinamo on the other hand will have a busy schedule playing midweek matches in Europe and weekends on the home front. Many of Dinamo players are also involved with international teams, meaning that fatigue and injuries could play a big part in deciding this seasons champions.
Dinamo still a slight favorite to win the title but Hajduk this season has a chance.
Livaja is really good. I like him. If we played the world cup tomorrow he’d be my first choice striker
Livaja has been amazing at Hajduk but he’s barely noticeable with the national team. He’s almost like another Vlasic…barely noticeable and doesn’t offer much energy….uninspiring performances.
My biggest concern is our striker position and we haven’t solved that problem yet!
I had called krovinovic to be a guy that Made an impact on the repka a few years back then he got that injury
Glad to see he has found his game
He’s never been considered national team material. He’s good for HNL and even there he has many games where he’s nowhere to be found.
He was an intriguing late-bloomer prospect during his time at Benfica. He had a good season at Rio Ave, was brought over by Benfica at only 22 years of age, and for half a season started to really play well for them off the bench (with a few starts).
He looked really good like he was going to take that next step…but then he blew his knee. Ironically, the same injury as his best friend, Marko Pjaca. We lost two solid prospects to the same injury.
Sadly I think we may have lost another one in Lukas Kacavenda with the same injury.
I’m pretty sure we are covered in his position and if anything, I’m leaning towards someone like Butina over someone like Ivanusec, who’s already played for the national team. Sucic, Kovacic, Majer are all good options and in my opinion, much better than Krovinovic!
I was always an Ivanusec fan but now that I’ve seen Butina, I feel he’s more creative and advances the ball forward a lot more than Ivanusec.
Dalić called him up last time around, but there’s probably no room for HNL midfielders on the repka. Too many elite players already in the squad who play the same position. This doesn’t not mean to dismiss Krovinović, who is a good player. But this is a team that won’t always have room for Majer, Pasalić, Sučić, Vlasić, or Kramarić.
First legs attendances
Hajduk Split – Vitória SC 32,000
Maccabi Tel-Aviv – Aris Thessaloniki 21,204
Slavia Praha – Panathinaikos 17,314
AIK – Shkëndija 15,692
Brøndby – Basel 15,015
APOEL – Kyzylzhar 12,630
Viking – Sligo 11,645
Dundee United – AZ Alkmaar 10,181
Neftçi – Rapid Wien 9,800
Spartak Trnava – Raków 8,720
Dunajská Streda – FCSB 8,424
Paide – Anderlecht 7,506
Riga – Gil Vicente 7,100
CSKA Sofia – St Patrick’s 7,048
Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe – Djurgården 6,632
Viborg – B36 5,191
Lillestrøm – Antwerp 4,927
Zrinjski – Tobol 4,754
Ballkani – KÍ 3,500
Molde – Kisvárda 3,404
Lugano – Hapoel Beer-Sheva 3,369
Fehérvár – Petrocub 3,365
Hamrun – Levski 3,135
Čukarički – Twente 2,374
Wolfsberger AC – Gżira 2,114
Vaduz – Konyaspor 2,032
RFS – Hibernians 1,911
KuPS – Young Boys 1,521
Breidablik – İstanbul Başakşehir 1,283
Víkingur Reykjavík – Lech 1,023
Zorya Luhansk – Universitatea Craiova 782
Shakhtyor – CFR Cluj 0 (behind closed doors in Adapazarı)
@mart.
Any word in Koprivnica? Whatcha got dawg?
Beautiful goal by team Porkchop a result of terrible defending by ( I believe) Hajduk’s left midfielder. Key when defending is to never let your opponent get past you. To be so easily beat on the 1-2 pass is an embarrassment. No need to attempt an interception in that situation.
Marko Divkovic https://youtu.be/5Lw6MAYbfL8?t=338
relative or agent?
lol you read my mind Maminjo
Melnjak and Livaja.
I’ve been tirelessly promoting these two, and now I feel vindicated.
Lol. Well played Maminjo.