Atalanta ended Bayer Leverkusen’s hopes of a ‘treble’ season Wednesday night, beating the Bundesliga champions 3-0 in Dublin. Mario Pašalić came off the bench in the 57’ for Atalanta and received a solid 7/10 from 90min.com for his efforts. Josip Stanišić got the start for Bayer Leverkusen but was subbed off at halftime for a more attacking player. He received a 5/10 grade from 90min.com as he was “Given some difficult moments by Lookman, who turned him inside out on several occasions. Taken off at half-time for a centre-forward in Boniface.”
Not a bad year for either club as they both exceeded expectations 10-fold. Atalanta will finish the season as Europa League champions, top-5 in Serie A, made the Coppa Italia final and have secured a berth into next year’s Champions League group stage. On top of that, Juventus is rumored to be interested in Pašalić this summer.
The Europa League final will be the only blemish on Bayer Leverkusen’s near perfect season. They are the first Bundesliga club to finish the season undefeated. Leverkusen made the Europa League final and have secured Champions League football next season. They will also play in the DFB Pokal final this weekend vs. Kaiserslautern; a game they will be heavily favored in. Stanišić had a fantastic season in Leverkusen; on loan from Bayern Munich this year. It has been rumored that he wants to stay with Bayer but Munich (who currently owns him) will want his services back after Euro 2024. That will be something to watch this summer as Stanišić excelled in Leverkusen’s 3-5-2; playing in 20 matches and scoring three times while assisting once.
@chicro
I think you bring up a valid and interesting point in terms of maybe a hard group is actually good. I think I’m actually going to build a model to test the hypothesis. I can’t tomorrow cause it’s Memorial Day weekend and I’m hosting probably 100 people at the house tomorrow. Opening of the pool. Gotta make sure the heater is firing on all cylinders. Make it like the jadransko in mid August. I recently installed this massive pizza oven in the backyard kitchen so it’s getting broken in as well. It’s so big i may open up a dominos if this whole cyber security thing doesn’t work out
with the set up of the euros though, it’s prob MORE advantageous to be in the harder group. We still would have of 66% chance of advancing as even 3rd place. And then we would guaranteed of not getting 2 powerhouses (Spain or Italy) in the 1st knockout, instead of the usual guarantee of not getting 1 powerhouse (out of your own group) in the next round.
Other factors might be at play, but I don’t buy that a “more difficult group” is a reason we might not advance as far this time.
@dannyj
Is Croatia capable of a strong run this tournament?…surely…and i would love to see it as the biggest domoljub. but i see the odds strongly stacked against
Obviously our opponents are tougher
But mainly as I’ve said before, the nt has been great for several years but it has relied heavily on taking the air out of the ball and killing the game and then hoping for penalties or some strike of brilliance.
Unfortunately so many of those moments of brilliance were provided by perisic who just isn’t the same guy. As a result, Croatia does not have one player that can bend a defense and run at opponents with the ball. Which means the midfield needs to smother the game even more and they are just older and likely worse
And also it is unlikely livakovic is the same guy as last tournament
Budimir back from cracked ribs with a striker finish !!
Just need him to run for 60 and 30 from Petković and we have a legit #9 presence.
Man, Modrić has outlasted everyone at Real Madrid.
He will pick up some of those Kroos minutes next season.
The legend continues.
Real Madrid honor their players .. farca kick them to the curb.
Stanisic making a habit of winning silverware.
We are due for good run at the Euros.
Germany it is !!
Budimir gol:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/40215319/country/us/redirected/true
We gotta do well this tournament.
No excuses.
We gotta win this tournament*
No Excuses 😉
Very nice finish after a bit of time off
I know the truth and whatever anonymous guy will say we are weaker than qatar but as a whole I don’t feel so
We have actual guys who are scoring right now and I think enough pieces to make it work
And the best part is like always we will be underrated and we like it that way
And I know there will be fans from other nations but come on this is basically home games for us
Croatia U17 Denmark 2-2 y’day
***.uefa.com/under17/match/2040562–denmark-vs-croatia/
Check out Dinamo’s Noa Mikic RB – rave reviews across the internet
Reminds me of a young speedy Darijo Srna, peppering in a bit of Corluka
Look at first goal – he speeds down the right-wing (where a pass is played into) and beautiful cross into the box (how many times did our beloved Srna do the exact game play)
Second goal – what a speedster – he gets ball from keeper in break-out – and speeds through the entire team – beautiful shot into the net – wow (reminds me in some ways of Srna’s first Croatia goal @ Makisimir 2003 vs. Belgium and/or Corluka’s early beautiful end-to-end run vs. Germany @ Euro 2008 (when he was young, fast, hungry))
Anonymous might have to revise 2026 WC starting team with Noa Mikic in the RB spot (if Sigur is good enough – maybe we’ll have to stick him in “DM”)
x.com/RisingStarXI/status/1793750729322017029
In February of this year – Noa Mikic trained with Dinamo juniors and apparently one of his teammates “accidentally stepped on his arm, resulting in two broken bones.” He didn’t need surgery but had to wait for bones to heal.
Watched both of our matches and have to say that we were lucky in both to get a draw firstly against Austria ( 0 – 0 ) and now against Denmark. Against Austria we were missing four regulars who were suspended for that match, so it was not surprising that we were very defensive. We will need to beat Wales by a couple of goals to be certain of progressing to the QF’s, that is if Austria and Denmark play out a draw.
In regards to Noa Mikic in my opinion nothing extra special, we’ll see how he develops. At his age Brekalo was far superior and was being touted as the next big thing and unfortunately as we have seen Brekalo has fallen off the cliff.
@Croatiansports Team
Yikes my comment has gone into moderation. Please would you take a look..?
Izvrsno.. Baturina stepping it up for the Euros with a MOTM performance and nice goal in the Croatian cup final 2nd leg on Wed. Dinamo won 3-1 at Rijeka to complete the double.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W0AebRkqRM&t=307s
(42′ Baturina scores to make it 2-0)
***
@Dannyj
https://croatiansports.com/dalic-names-euro-2024-preliminary-squad-no-orsic/#comments/507230
[“Of course he wants to play but he does want the young guys to grow and team to do well.
Luka seems like a good father and he understands the role of how life goes and the next ones come in.”]
Well said Dannyj, I really believe Modric understands this and will put Croatia’s interest above his own. My gut feeling tells me he wants to retire at a World Cup and not the upcoming EURO.. well, unless we lift the trophy in Germany 🙂
fcbayern.com/en/news/2024/01/who-are-the-youth-players-at-bayern-training-camp-in-faro
Beyond Lovro Z – did u realize two other hot Croatian prospects w/in the Bayern system ?
Ljubo Puljic (currently captaining U17s) – left footed CB
Anthony Pavlesic – keeper – maybe Vrsaljko in his new role – can convince him to switch over to Croatia (from the Aussies) ? Age would b perfect v-a-v Livakovic
These three were invited to train w/ first team by Tuchel back in January
Puljic already 6’4” at 16 y.o. ! (bring out the “too tall” commentators, etc)
He must be quite the talent – if he’s appearing on the same thread as Mikey Moore 16 y.o. (already getting minutes at Spurs 1st team – he demolished France at U17s – two goals – reminds many of Messi) and Nwaneri (Arsenal prospects – used to be in the Spurs academy – massive talent at his age)
Yes nobody on here every mentioned him
x.com/rodrigos_2_/status/1792875105086808230
Got a Gvardiol jersey from https://shop.hns.family/en
Have to say it was a good experience even though its being shipped from Zagreb, arrived within 2 days
Ready for the Euros
Was on there this morning. Hey MV how would you describe the fit? I know a lot of soccer kits fit snug and it gets recommended to go size(s) higher than, say, a regular T-shirt.
It’s 30 euros to ship here (Canada, works out to about $45), which is pretty steep.
Odd they’re not available straight up on nike.ca like previous.
Fit is normal I’d say, it’s a regular Nike jersey. So if you can go into a Nike store and try any of their jerseys on you can get your size and then order is on there
Thanks for the info. Did you get the “stadium” or the “match” jersey, and does anyone know what’s the difference? The “stadium away” is 99.99 euros, and the “match away” is 149.99 euros which seems pricey.
If you scroll all the way to the bottom, there are descriptions. I think they like to call them “authentic” versus “replica” — which I’ve seen for other kits.
Some simplify it as “player” versus “fan” — bunch of info out there with online search of authentic/replica.
149.00: https://shop.hns.family/en/nike/match-away-jersey-dfadv-aw-m
99.99: https://shop.hns.family/en/nike/stadium-away-jersey-df-aw-m
Thanks
If you scroll all the way to the bottom, there are descriptions. I think they like to call them “authentic” versus “replica” — which I’ve seen for other kits.
Some simplify it as “player” versus “fan” — bunch of info out there with online search of authentic/replica.
149.00: https://shop.hns.family/en/nike/match-away-jersey-dfadv-aw-m
99.99: https://shop.hns.family/en/nike/stadium-away-jersey-df-aw-m
The difference is in quality. One is a replica and the other more expensive is what the players wear on the pitch
I really hope you got the blue one
If you scroll all the way to the bottom, there are descriptions. I think they like to call them “authentic” versus “replica.”
Some simplify it as “player” versus “fan” — bunch of info out there with online search of authentic/replica.
149.00: https://shop.hns.family/en/nike/match-away-jersey-dfadv-aw-m
99.99: https://shop.hns.family/en/nike/stadium-away-jersey-df-aw-m
I got the blue one, the home kit looks terrible this time around. Not liking the collar
This is all the confirmation Dalic needs to start Pasalic every game now, haha
Ya, and he also needs to bench Stanisic (based on comments made here by an unknown basement dweller)
Stanisic was not at fault for any of the goals by Lookman
True. Its unfortunate that he got subbed off, but it was a tactical adjustment by the coach. Atalanta’s coach had a masterclass plan to beat Leverkusen, and they played an almost perfect game to pull it off. Leverkusen were completely dominated all game, and never had an opportunity to get into their rhythm.
Guys –
God is looking over us by Lookman having the game of his life y’day (and Dalic & coaching staff having the footage of the first half here)
“‘[Stanisic] given some difficult moments by Lookman, who turned him inside out on several occasions.”
This is EXACTLY what will happen if Gvardiol plays LB (sorry to repeat myself)
But it won’t just be Nico Williams vs. Stanisic – they will completely over-load our right-side w/ 2 vs. 1 3 vs. 1, etc
Dalic & coaching staff now see what happens if we cause too much pressure on Stanisic on that side with a tricky and speedy winger (and if Stanisic starts to lose his confidence vs. Spain than we’ll have issue during the tournament) – never mind we don’t know yet who will play “RCB” and line up next to Stanisic in the defence (which of our CB options BEST COMPLIMENT Gvardiol ?)
Yesterday’s game is really a blessing from Međugorje (i.e. to happen vs. Atalanta y’day, rather than Nico Williams & Spain)
Can i just say,… i didnt realise how good it was but Baby Lasange’s song is the best thing ive heard, he really deserved to win, love the guy !
Hehe !