The HNL is a wild and unpredictable league. But one thing is certain: it doesn’t matter if Hajduk beats Dinamo at Poljud or Maksimir multiple times in any given season…they will still somehow find a way to lose the league. Complete transparency: I did not watch the game. Only the highlights. And I am a Hajduk guy.
With that said, I would have been happy with a Hajduk draw at Maksimir Friday night. Instead, Marko Livaja scored the game’s lone goal in the 70′ after volleying home a long Dominik Prpić lob into the box. Hajduk only had two shots on goal and 36% ball possession in the match, but hey, they’re headed back to Split in 1st place with all three points after the 6th Round of HNL fixtures.
Was Dinamo looking forward to Tuesday’s Champions League opening match against Bayern in Munich? Probably. But this match meant more to Hajduk than it did to Dinamo. Dinamo only picked up four points in four matches against Hajduk last season; and still managed to win the league. If Hajduk want to be a true contender for the 2025 HNL title, they will need to figure out a way to not drop points against teams like Šibenmik, Varaždin, Gorica and Istra. It’s a long season and Dinamo have bigger fish to fry this week…but this result will only make the HNL season that much more competitive this season.
Yeah…36% possession once Diallo got a red card, second yellow for a non deliberate handball!! Ref doing his best to push Dinamo along the way, but it didn’t pan out to plan. HŽV 💪
Come on. Ref wasn’t favoring Dinamo.
On the instant replay, Diallo did extend his arm out to block the ball. The ref could have given or not given a card. Either way, it wasn’t some obvious attempt of the ref favoring Dinamo on that play.
Ref also could have easily called game after Torcida threw flares and explosives onto the field for over 10 minutes, and the smoke was not clearing up (as there was no breeze or wind).
There must have been some sort of drone or something because some of these fireworks got to center field. One almost hit Petkovic. Hajduk were lucky the ref was patient with Torcida and the game continued.
Glad that Hajduk won. It might calm the waters with the fiasco going on in Split. This win buys Gattuso more time and hopefully things become stable. They still need an audit and I like that Gattuso called out the President.
It was Nikola Kalinic that did all the work calling the board out for their incompetency.
I’m surprised Hajduk only had 36% possession. The game was very evenly matched. I guess Dinamo had more possession, but Hajduk had a number of very dangerous chances that went off target. Livaja looked injured the whole game but still managed that excellent goal. Rog blew a clear chance to tie the game, as did Kulenović by trying to score with his head on a ball that was probably better to attack with his foot. Pjaca was excellent. He looks more and more like 2016 Pjaca.
Rog is garbage.
Stojkovic set him up for the game winner with an awesome pass through the legs of a Hajduk defender, and Rog completely botched it.
Sigur also screwed up a great chance for Biuk to make it 2-0 on the other end, when he stupidly passed it to the heels of Biuk (instead of in front of Biuk where there were no defenders and just open field). I’m glad Sigur picked Canada, haha.
Yeah, I wasn’t too impressed by Sigur. He seems like he will develop into an OK player, but so do most of the young guys who were on the field. I was more impressed by Biuk. He’s very fast! He seems a bit arrogant with thinking he can dribble anyone, but his speed is impressive.
About Rog, “garbage” seems like an exaggeration. He did well in the possession and buildup phase and looked like a real pro until he had to finish in front of goal 😅 Actually, his second shot was on target but got blocked. I was expecting him to be worse and way slower after all those injuries, but his touch was good and he was still one of the faster players on the field. He’ll probably never play for the repka again, but it’s good to see that there is still a playing career ahead for him.