HNL action returned over the weekend after the international break and started with a 2-1 win for Dinamo Zagreb over Slaven Belupo in Koprivnica on Friday.
Slaven held the Modri scoreless for the first half and scored one goal themselves in the 40th minute.
Mate Delić slipped a shot passed Eduardo who came out to play the ball as Delić approached him on a one-on-one.
Delić got the best of the keeper and scored to give his team the lead.
But Jeremy Taravel struck back in the final minute of the first half to tie the match at one goal apiece.
It didn’t take long for Dinamo to find a second goal as Angelo Henriquez scored in the 55th minute of the game to give the Modri the final score of 2-1.
Dinamo advanced to second place with the win and are only one point behind Rijeka who dropped two points to Osijek on Saturday.
While Dinamo was on the field on Friday, Dinamo Zagreb chairman/sporting director, Zdravko Mamić sat in jail after being arrested for the second time this year.
HNK Rijeka paid a costly visit to the Garden City on Saturday to face Osijek in a match that should have grown Rijeka’s lead in the league.
Instead, a 95th minute penalty for Osikek secured a 1-1 draw and forced Rijeka to be satisfied with a single point.
Rijeka’s Roman Bezjak scored in the 45th minute to put Rijeka up 1-0. The lead was held until the final seconds of the match after the referee added a minimum of four minutes to the game.
Upon the fifth minute of added time, Filip Bradarić was called for a foul in the box after taking down an Osijek player in the box.
Mile Škorić stepped up to the ball to take the ensuing penalty. After much delay, Škorić put the ball in the net in the 97th minute to tie the match and take a points from Rijeka.
Rijeja still remain on top, but only by a single point. Osijek remains in ninth place, but are only three points back from Slaven Belupo.
Hajduk Split found themselves on the winning side of the contest against NK Inter Zaprešić on Saturday at Poljud after scoring four goals in the 90 minutes.
Tino-Sven Šušić opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a hard shot into the goal after the Inter defenders failed to clear the ball.
Fran Tudor followed suit with a goal in the 41st minute to double the lead, then Marco Bencun added a third tally in the in the 45th minute.
Hajduk’s scoring clinic didn’t end there either.
A 90th minute goal by Ante Roguljić capped off a tremendous day for the Bili and kept them only one point behind Dinamo for second place.
Sunday’s matches were kicked off by the and edition of the Gradski Derbi featuring NK Lokomotiva and NK Zagreb.
The two tenants of Kranjčevićeva faced off in front of a reported 148 fans.
The 20-year-old Lokomotiva midfielder, Eros Grezda, scored his first two goals of the season while giving the Lokosi a 2-0 victory.
The Kings of Kranjčevićeva were crowed as Lokomotiva rest in fifth place on the table while NK Zagreb look destined for relegation.
The final match of the weekend featured NK Istra 1961 daw against RNK Split 1-1 at Aldo Drosina.
Split took an early lead in the second minute thanks to Draen Bagarić’s goal.
But the 1-0 deficit didn’t discourage Istra and they came back with a goal of their own after searching for only 20 minutes.
Stefan Nikolić tied the match with his 22nd minute goal to give the ultimate 1-1 score, forcing the teams to split the points.
Split currently resides in fourth place while Istra climbed to sixth place after the weekend.
Clock is ticking on Muric.
He transferred to Ajax almost two years ago, hasn’t cracked the first team at all, and will be turning 20 in a few short months from now. He’s not exactly lighting in up in the youth squad either. Hopefully ditching Mamic to go to Ajax was worth it financially for him.
Hvala Colin.
How are Vlasic and Balic doing at Hajduk. I understand that they’re both having a hard time. Too bad since I truly believe that could be the next big thing.
And what about Rog and Coric? I see that Rog often plays. Does he impress? We all know about the troubles between Coric and Mamic. I hope this won’t bring Coric down.
I see how Robert Muric and Fran Brodic ended up in Belgium and The Netherlands after their beef with Mamic. Robert Muric plays for Ajax B in the Dutch second league. He didn’t play one single minute for the first team of Ajax. Brodic was bought by Club Bruges in Belgium. He didn’t play one single minute in their first team so now he’s loaned out to Antwerp FC in Belgian second league, but he didn’t play for their first team yet.