Ivica Olić sealed the deal late for Hamburg as the German club moves on to the UEFA Cup quarterfinals. With Petrić sidelined due to a torn thigh muscle, Guerrero and Olić picked up the slack for Hamburg scoring three goals in the last half hour of play. These goals came in handy as Galatasaray picked up an early 2-0 lead.
In other UEFA Cup Round of 16 news, current champions, Zenit St. Petersburg, have been ousted from the tournament. Ivica Križanac played the full 90 and helped Zenit post a shutout in their 1-0 second leg match, however Udinese’s 2-0 first leg win in Italy was enough to put them through on aggregate.
Darijo Srna and Shakhtar Donetsk are through to the quarterfinals with an impressive 2-0 win over CSKA Moscow. With Moscow winning the first leg 1-0 at home, Shakhtar had their backs against the wall. A solid win for Srna and his Ukrainian side to say the least.
Staying in Ukraine, Ognjen Vukojević sat out Dynamo Kyiv’s second leg match against Metalist Kharkiv. Kiev lost the game 3-2 but advance to the quarterfinals on the ‘away goals’ aggregate rule. Former Hajduk player, Goran Sablić, got a chance to play in place of Vukojević on defense and scored Kyiv’s first goal off an easy tap-in. A goal nonetheless.
With Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv both progressing; this will be the first time ever that a Ukrainian club has reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup.
With Dinamo Zagreb’s 4-1 win over NK Zagreb and Hajduk’s 0-0 stalemate away to Cibalia, the two storied Croatian clubs will once again meet in the Croatian Cup Final. Who didn’t see that coming?
Mario Mandžukić scored a ‘hat trick’ in the first half against NK Zagreb in front of only 1,000 fans at Maksimir. I believe that number will increase when Hajduk and Torcida come to town on May 13th. The return leg at the Poljud will take place on May 27th. It should be a fun one. B.Y.O.F (Bring Your Own Flares!)
olic = assist and goal
simply brilliant
That HSV and Galatasaray match looked like a quality game. All the goals were fine strikes. Was impressed by Olic’s finish. I always thought Guerrero was a good player. Surprised nobody signed him whilst he’s been warming the bench.
Yes Sablic, I might support Dinamo and he’s a Hajduk man, but this guy is way better and more experienced than Drpic. I can’t believe Bilic recalled Drpic. I don’t agree that Klasnic is called up cos he’s a friend of Bilic, but i definitely think Drpic is Bilic’s mate. Its frustrating to see Drpic, Knezevic, Vejic continuously appearing without doing much. Kalinic being there is also irritating, but hopefully he’ll play some minutes against Andorra so he can be judged.