Dinamo Zagreb have drawn their UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round first leg against FC Thun in Switzerland. The final result was 1-1 after a very entertaining game that had chances on both ends of the pitch. The Thun goal came from Brighton Labeau in the 1st half, while Dinamo’s Miha Zajc scored the equaliser with just a few minutes left.
The second leg is on Tuesday, July 28th, at 20:00 CET at Maksimir. The draws for the 3rd qualifying rounds of the UEFA competitions also took place on Monday, but first, the Dinamo match itself.
First Half: Poor Defensive Display
The opening minutes before the goal were very quiet, as both teams were playing their first competitive minutes since May. Then, in the 19th minute, Ivan Filipović fumbled a cross in the box, but the Dinamo goalkeeper immediately made up for it with a great double save. Sadly, Thun took the lead just seconds later, in the 20th minute, as Labeau got his head on the end of a cross from Fabio Fehr and the header went into the back of the net. Filipović misjudged the cross, but McKenna and Dominguez didn’t do him any favours either, as the striker was completely unmarked.
Dion Drena Beljo almost drew the game level as he was left with a brilliant opportunity at the top of the box all alone. However, his shot was poor and an easy save for Niklas Steffen. Steffen also made a good save minutes later as Moris Valinčić had a try from outside the box. Right after Valinčić’s shot, Furkan Dursun was left unmarked six yards away from Filipović, but the Austrian striker headed wide.
Before the break, Miha Zajc and Gabriel Vidović had good chances but failed to find the target as Thun headed into half-time with the lead.
Second Half: Dinamo Step on The Gas
The 2nd half was much better from Dinamo; in the 53rd minute, Beljo had a header redirected and then cleared off the line by a Thun defender. Mislav Oršić then had a great look at goal, but his shot was low and slow, making it another easy save for the home side’s goalkeeper. The Swiss then had another goal-line clearance as Oršić’s shot was blocked but was still on target.
Thun didn’t sit back purely to defend, as Valmir Matoshi almost doubled their lead in the 73rd minute with a shot from just outside the box. Eventually, Dinamo’s pressure proved to be too much as Fran Topić crossed the ball from the right side, which made its way to Zajc at the top of the D, who slotted it past Steffen for the final 1-1 draw. No more chances followed, and Dinamo can definitely be happy with the result, considering how poor their defence was in the first 45.
Positive European Draws for Croatian Teams
Let’s go back to Monday, when UEFA held the draws for the 3rd qualifying round of their men’s European competitions. Dinamo Zagreb will face the winner of Kí Klaksvík – Kauno Žalgiris if they get the better of Thun in Zagreb next week. Dinamo should beat either of those sides, and it would be a failure for Mario Kovačević and his team not to reach at least the UCL play-offs. However, if the ‘Modri’ can’t beat Thun, they’ll drop down to the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League to face the loser of Vikingur Reykjavik – Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Moving to Hajduk Split, ‘Bili’ were always going to get a tough draw for their possible matchup if they beat Pafos in the Europa League. The four potential ties they could’ve gotten were: Rangers FC, Beşiktaş JK – FC Midtjylland, FC Dynamo Kyiv – PAOK and RB Salzburg. Hajduk got the Austrian side, Red Bull Salzburg. Beating Pafos would be a great result for the Split side, but as previously mentioned, they’re the outsider in that tie. If they get through, they would need to produce another shock result to beat the Austrians, who haven’t missed a group stage of a European competition since 2012/2013.
If Hajduk lose to Pafos and drop down to the 3QR of the Conference League, they’ll play the winner of Georgian side Dinamo Tbilisi or Lithuanian side Žalgiris — by far the easiest draw they could’ve gotten in that case, as they had a chance to face teams like PAOK, Dynamo Kyiv, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, FCSB and Sheriff Tiraspol.
Onto the last two: Rijeka and Varaždin. Rijeka face Derry City in the 2QR of the Conference League, and if they beat the Northern Irish side, they’ll play the winner of Icelandic side Stjarnan and Finnish side Ilves. A path into the play-off looks very much possible for Matjaž Kek as he kicks off his second term at Rijeka.
Varaždin will face Jablonec in the 2QR of the Conference League, after originally being drawn against Hradec Králové; a pairing that changed due to the fallout from MFK Karviná’s match-fixing scandal. The 3QR draw revealed they’ll potentially face IF Vestri from Iceland or RFS from Latvia. Nikola Šafarić and his team were the biggest winners of this draw; they could’ve drawn the likes of Beşiktaş, Midtjylland, KAA Gent, Twente and Ferencvarosi.
With all those draws, it’s not unrealistic to say that all four of our clubs will get to at least a play-off of any European competition. But, knowing our clubs and their history, we’ll probably end up with just Dinamo progressing in either the UCL or UEL. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen, as our chances of having at least two sides in the proper stage of a UEFA competition have risen with these draws, as everybody escaped much tougher sides. Now for Hajduk, Rijeka and Varaždin, if they get to the Conference League play-off, they’ll all be unseeded in that draw. And the seeded teams are no joke this season, at least judging by this projection:
Overall, there’s reason to be hopeful.
