Rijeka balked in Zagreb Sunday losing 3-1 to Lokomotiva, which gives the HNL top spot to Dinamo with four matches remaining in the season. Dinamo now carry a 1-point lead on Rijeka going into their May 5th match against each other in Rijeka. A draw is now a positive result for Dinamo as opposed to the other way around before this weekend kicked off.
Lokomotiva 3-1 Rijeka
Varaždin 0-1 Dinamo
Hajduk 5-1 Rudeš
Gorica 0-3 Osijek
Istra 3-0 Slaven
ok I’ll be the first to mention this. Now that Hajduk aren’t at the top of the HNL and have slipped down top 3rd, are we really surprised? Just curious! did any or many of you watch the first two games when Dinamo played Hajduk and Hajduk very flukily got the wins…after maintaining only 33% and 34% possession in each game. Here’s my perspective on those results.
anyone that watched the games must be honest with themselves and know that Dinamo should have easily WON…but somehow Hajduk pulled off two victories and then the ignorant media and loyal Hajduk fans began believing their team was plain and simply better. I challenge anyone to go back and watch the games…Hajduk had no business winning those games but they did. after those wins, Hajduk had very few…if any impressive wins, looking very desperate to score goals and find a winner in most games but somehow their fans and the media kept going with the narrative that Hajduk are going to win the cup after several years of playing the brides-maid!
The plot thickened after the Christmas break even more when Hajduk announced that Perisic has arrived (with one working leg), Brekalo was then signed as some kind of side show…trying to convince the public that he’s gonna make shit happen. Here’s the thing about that…first note that I like Brekalo and he was a Dinamo player….BUT…for anyone that’s seen my comments about Brekalo over these past two years, they can tell you that in my opinion, he’s not played at 50% of his potential for whatever reason. Why the hell would Hajduk invest in him??? this completely baffles me…apparently he’s gone after this season so what was the point? who is responsible for signing someone that is only there to re-gain his form but in the meantime he wasn’t starting in several games…who the hell would sign a guy that far out of his top form and only recently playing a little better? I mean, don’t Hajduk have scouts that watch the players they are investing in? Good Lord, this was probably the stupidest decision I have ever seen in my life…except it gets even better! This is where we bring in the self hating Hrvat, Nikola Kalinic!
Nikola Kalinic was also signed as some sorta side show/freak show and media outlets were all jumping on the bandwagon….Nikola Kalinic signs with Hajduk for a $1 Euro/month salary! This was one more ploy that I just shake my head at. for starters, N Kalinic hasn’t played a significant game for any team since 2018 and when he does get in a string of games, he ends up injured most of the time. This signing was ludicrous but when I look a little closer I noticed this. Hajduk celebrated being the half season/Fall Champions of the league (I mean come on…celebrating being in first when there’s half a season left?), they signed Perisic not knowing whether he could help the team. they signed Brekalo in his worst form. they brought back a retired Kalinic for $1 Euro/month.
I felt Hajduk never had the complete team this season and Livaja’s drop in form has made things worse. who’s responsible for the hype and false expectations? This was a year where Dinamo couldn’t have been worse and Rijeka had their ups and downs, Osijek is out of the picture…no better time to take advantage and they end up buying players that just couldn’t help the team!
smoke in mirrors!
Poetic justice and I am loving it. 😂😂😂