Igor Matanović scored a wonderful Euro-volley from outside the box Thursday as Freiburg defeated Celta Vigo 6-1 (agg.) to book their ticket to the Europa League semifinals! The goal was initially ruled offside by the assistant referee, however, after VAR was deemed a good goal. Freiburg will face either Real Betis or Braga in the semifinal round.
Matanović now has 3G/1A in 12 Europa League matches this campaign.
Does anyone know how Roko Šimić has been doing?? He has fallen out of the conversation and I haven’t heard about him much lately.
With regards to this Beljo vs Matanović debate. I am not sure. We had both Petkovic and Livaja who scored quite consistently in the league. Livaja especially in the previous two years. We know how many people on here especially didn’t want Livaja on the squad.
To be fair his attitude remains an issue.
In drudging this up I am not saying Livaja should play, that conversation is effectively dead. I am only saying that goals scored in that league are not a deciding factor. In this respect would it really matter if Beljo put the ball in the net 30 times given that it’s HNL?
What does matter are the goals scored on the big stage where Beljo has I think 5 goals in the standing for Europa. But we have to think of the quality of these goals and the technique. Does he make the difference for the squad, how will he fair against tougher opposition rather than just playing Hajduk and Rijeka or even lower table teams in the Croatian League. It’s easy to bag 3 goals versus a shittier team rather than let’s say Freiburg or Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. We have to remember that Matanović is on the more difficult path, much like Budimir in LA Liga.
The only decision here is between Beljo and Musa I think. That one to be fair may be in Beljo’s favour.
I think it’s worth noting that Dalic isn’t always wrong with the decisions he makes. I would also like to point out that it doesn’t make sense to say that Dalic favours Hajduk when that is simply not true. Many players have been from Dinamo in the past so this conversation also needs to stop as well.
Just responding to some previous posts in other threads as well. I am less interested in which camp the person is playing for and more interested in what they offer to the National team overall.
That is the Hajduk vs Dinamo Camp. This is an especially annoying conversation, that we have to hear, when held in tandem with discussion if Luka Vuskovic. Whom for us is an exceptional prospect.
After those games that he played for us it should be obvious by now.
Btw the shit thing about that awesome Igor goal is the officials robbed him and the fans of enthusiastic celebration that should be part and parcel of the game.
Unfortunately we see this a lot now, in the NRL here in Aus when a try is scored you half celebrate cos U know there’s an video review inquisition coming. But the Igor one is worse for sure.
Mate1:
Hate the fact Luka experienced a knee injury so early in his career, hopeful it does not rear its head again, or keep him down like so many others before Pjaca, Orsic, etc.
Love to see him as our future potential set piece kicker, not quite sure how to make of all the derision regarding attitude being a potential challenge moving forward. Hopefully it is a phase.
I thought it was a mild knock on the knee?
I think it’s more the knee injury he sustained a while ago. It sidelined him for over a year or more, and that kind of set Luka Sučić back quite a bit. Plus Dalic wouldn’t call him up for a while even though he was showing great potential at the time, I think this was due to the fact that Austrian Bundesliga is not a top flight league, where he was playing at the time. This was sort of the problem. Then he had a mild knock recently, which wasn’t good news either as he was starting to score and progress forward. So it’s just hoping the kid can stay healthy and in form.
When you watch him play he aggressively pushes forward, and had opportunities where he almost scored for us, on many occasions.
He is more of an attacking midfielder than his cousin Petar in my view. Many are thinking that Petar will function as more of a Brozovic (CDM) type midfielder. Prosinečki even said as much in an interview, that he doesn’t see him as a Modric type player. Needless to say both are very important and promising prospects.
I didn’t really like the attitude I saw from Luka Sučić after he scored in that one tournament for us. However, that could have just been frustration with everything that is going on. He was also under a lot of heat publicly. To be fair many on this website keep calling him wedding boy so it’s easy to see where the frustration could set in.
I just the think it’s the past and should stay in the past. No need to keep drudging things up.
Hell of a strike by Igor. Made it look easy. Talent
I remember the perfect Euro Volley that Bruno Petkovic provided Mario Brozovic, in the WC 2022, and in typical fashion, and he just skied the shot 20 yards above the goal post.
I do think our new crop of 2026 middle fielders are equivalent replacements for Brozovic and Kovacic, who always lacked scoring power potential, and the new crop might surprise us all.
To a certain degree, Kovacic has been a complete offensive disappointment. He can direct the ball anywhere but in the last 30% of the field he falls apart, that includes PKs. At least Brozovic was a good PK shooter.
We want to control the middle but be lethal to a certain extent in the final 30%.
Our more offensive backline and middle field may make up for our more anemic front 3.
I am good personally good with Mario and Petar upfront to play aggressive in the final 1/3 of the field, to the best of their unproven ability to this crowd.
These are some good points kromiza,
I would, however, say Luka Sučić is a bit more offensive than his cousin Petar Sučić.. personally. If Luka Sučić can stay healthy he may be key for us. It looks like Real Sociedad are using him more often now and he is always in an offensive position, which we are lacking in spades right now for the national team.
So if he develops further, because his potential is greater than most, than we may have a really well formed midfield and could worry a lot less about having a gap in the midfield. So if Luka can pair well with Kovačić or his cousin that we may be fine in years to come.
Just to point out, Kovačić may not be hugely offensive, but that is okay. We are really going to need him in the next year or two. He is our best box to box midfielder next to Modric so personally I don’t want him to go anywhere right now.
The final third, well we all know that’s the monkey in the room right now and has been since Manđo hung up his boots. We are still waiting to see who develops.
Budimir, as much as he has been the leading goalscorer in that department…I just don’t see it. He has great work ethic, I respect the guy a lot and he is trying to step up but for us he has a problem putting that ball in the net. He is great at Osasuna, but he hasn’t really translated that for us and his positioning isn’t always the best in my opinion, more so his first touch also isn’t the greatest. That’s not to say he is a bad player, he is just not someone who strikes me as an elite player.
I was not confident with Musa in the passed but he really impressed me in that game against Columbia, albeit it was an exhibition match where he almost bagged two incredible goals and really should have. Now it was Columbia and not Brazil, which could make a difference but we will see.
Matanović I have always liked even though he was bit weaker in these exhibition games for us. His touch is really what I was noticing earlier on, he is great on the ball. I am still going to say this, he really has to be the future striker for us. This is not based on this goal he just scored, I had this feeling in a different post before. I think it was that game against Poland where he really surprised me with his first touch, he has that predatory instinct. He is able to shift play and fool defenders that you just don’t see in the other two options. If he can become more consistent than we may be set in that department.
This does however leave us with a lot of what ifs right now which is not exactly where we want to be.
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🚨 Toni Fruk will be out for several weeks after sustaining a back injury against Osijek, coach Victor Sanchez has confirmed.
Big blow for Rijeka as they are pushing for a top-three finish and remain in the hunt for silverware in the Cup.
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For my fellow Aussies, you can see the goal here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwsKeYADKQA
@CroatianFootballScout2
On Twitter mentions Sven Sunta might be eligible for Croatia (he transferred to Croatia in 2020/2021 season)
Any thoughts on his potential for those who have watched him?
Yes I know he’s only had a handful of minutes with Dinamo 1st team so far
Would be pretty bad if we pillaged Slovenia for an ethnic Slovenian.
We already took Šotiček and are trying to take that Inter Milan youth player (Topalović)… but these two are ethnic Croats.
I would feel bad if we took Šunta if he’s not at all Croatian.
However, if he turns into a superstar, then that feeling goes away.
Šit, while we are at it, let’s do a ŠLO trifecta, Šunta, Šotiček, and Šeško
Šeško is a half Serb. Can’t play for us.
Wasn’t Milan Badelj partly as well? I mean I am not really bothered by that personally. Was the guy born on and does he live in Croatia? More importantly is good enough to be on the squad, and does he have Croatian pride.
Or do you mean he doesn’t have Croatian roots at all? In that case I would agree.
@CroatianFootballScout2
On Twitter mentions Sven Sunta might be eligible for Croatia (he transferred to Croatia in 2020/2021 season)
Any thoughts on his potential for those who have watched him?
Yes I know he’s only had a handful of minutes with Dinamo 1st team so far
9 – Freiburgs Igor Matanovic schoss neun Pflichtspieltore im Jahr 2026, nur drei Bundesliga-Spieler noch mehr: Luis Díaz (11), Deniz Undav (13) und Harry Kane (20). I9or.
Igor is 4th in Bundesliga forwards in 2026 in goals scored w 9.
Igor ears must have been burning.
Just when people were talking about Dion, taking the place of Igor on the NT, he lets go of a top five quality highlight of his career
Does get much prettier than that. Awesome assist.
Apparently i will never see this goal lmao. I can’t view this one either and Anon’s got deleted. Also can’t find it anywhere on YT or anything. Guess that’s copyright for you. Maybe someone can draw a stick figure animation of it so some of us can have the good fortune to at least get the “idea” of it.
One of the things i hate about modern copyright holders tbh.
Here’s a link brate: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1sna1ls/celta_vigo_01_freiburg_igor_matanovi%C4%87_great_goal/
Thanks!