Outside of the HNL, domestic leagues across Europe have yet to kick off. However, there were three major headlines this week in Croatian football. But whose was most relevant?
-Perišić and Hajduk part ways
-Modrić became the most decorated player in Real Madrid history with his 27th trophy (2-0 UEFA SuperCup win over Atalanta)
-Brozović retired from international duty after being capped for Croatia 99 times
At the time of publishing this post, it was a dead heat on Twitter which headline was most relevant. But it’s an easy one for me. It has to be Perišić.
With Modrić signing on one more season at Real Madrid — knowing he would only need one trophy in seven attempts this campaign to become the all-time leader in Real Madrid hardware — it was a foregone conclusion that it would happen. It’s an incredible feat, but Modrić signed with Real Madrid for the trophy record and club captaincy, not for the playing time. He will be coming off the bench the majority of the season with Mbappe, Bellingham, and Vini running the show, so he should be fresh for international duty.
With Broz having a sub-par Euro 2024 and playing in the Saudi League at 31 years of age, I think it was safe to say his time was coming. I would have been absolutely shocked if he stayed for one more cycle; even it was Nations League qualifying this Fall. However, he will go down as an absolute Croatian legend who was a rock in midfield in 2018 during Croatia’s World Cup Final run. Thank you EpicBroz! His most impactful accolades:
-was capped 99 times by Croatia
-scored 7 international goals
-was named 2021/22 Serie A “Best Midfielder”
-won 3 international medals 🥈🥉🥈
But out of all the headlines this week, Perišić shook me the most. He was supposed to come back to the promised land and help win Hajduk their first Prva Liga title since 2005. He was going to return from knee surgery and team up with Vatreni legend Ivan Rakitić to quiet the wave of domination from Zagreb. Instead, Perišić will leave Hajduk only playing a total 342 minutes in 2024; having one goal to his name — versus Istra.
But with Perišić abruptly leaving, that also puts the “State of Hajduk” under the microscope. What exactly is happening behind closed doors? Did Perišić only come to Split to rehab prior to Euro 2024? Is Gattuso the right guy for the job? How much (behind closed doors) did Gattuso have with Perišić leaving?
We will see if Gattuso is the right guy to be in Split in the upcoming weeks. But it’s a shame we won’t be able to see Perišić alongside Raketa for an entire season. Sadly, this would have been a beautiful ‘swan song’ for Perišić in Split. We will never know what could have transpired.
Disastrous night for our clubs in Europe.
Osijek drawing 2 – 2 away in Azerbaijan to Zira and losing on penalties. Zira was the better team loaded with foreign players and deserved to go to the play off round. However, in the penalty shootout Cavlina saved 3 penalties but unfortunately Osijek missed 4 spot kicks or should I say the Portuguese goalkeeper playing for Zira saved four. Osijek’s spot kicks were just awful.
I only saw a bit of the Rijeka match as it was played at the same time as Osijek but they were up against it, plastic pitch and Elfsborg match fit having already played 18 matches in the Swedish League. No surprise that Rijeka lost 2 – 0, they have a 50/50 chance against Olimpija in the play off for the group stage of the conference league.
Hajduk in my opinion played well especially in the first half and were unlucky to go out losing 1 – 0 to a comical own goal by Sarlija. They actually created some really good chances however Pukstas and Livaja were denied by a very good goalkeeper who put in a MOTM performance.
Not sure how long Gattuso will last as a coach, however the reality is Hajduk simply does not have the quality all over the field.
As usual it is up to Dinamo again in Europe, and as far as HNL is concerned the way Hajduk, Rijeka and Osijek are playing and the quality of their playing squads the race for the title could be over by Christmas ??
European play is tough. A lot of these random teams play really well in the UEFA tournaments, and the overall level of professional football is now very high everywhere in the UEFA territory. A team with more preparation under their belts naturally does better than a team still getting things together for the season. AEK Athens was beaten out convincingly by a team from Armenia, for example. Trabzonspor got beaten too. You simply can’t predict outcomes based on name recognition anymore.
Did all our teams just crash out of European competition?
I guess it’s all up to Dinamo again.
Rijeka can still qualify for Conference League, they will face Olimpija in the play-off round.
Hopefully they can pull it off, and Dinamo too. One team in CL and one on Conf L wouldn’t be too bad.
Yeah indeed.
Broz was a true outlier the epitome of the black swan partying and smoking 2 packs a day yet clocking more mileage than anyone on game day!
Plus let us not forget he was the architect behind the greatest defensive addition to the wall…the crocodile 🐊
Crnac to Werder Bremen maybe? Hmm..
Got a sense the Broz “burns the candle ” at both ends alot. Good for him to know he’s done rather than linger like some . Broz had his days. Cestitam ,Broz. Party like it’s 1999.
Despite having a poor EURO I’m surprised that Brozovic has retired at 31.
At his peak he was a world class player, and it is a pity that he did not stay in Europe to play and went to Saudi Arabia instead chasing money. He will be hard to replace, but it leaves an opportunity for younger players to step up and show what they can do.
Broz made the wrong move if his plan was to continue playing in top form. He should have, like Modric, taken a pay cut and went to Barcelona. But that’s not what he wanted. Instead, he wanted the money, and that’s fair. The problem, however, is that his level of play has dipped quite a bit.
So personally my hats are off to the guy for recognizing this and giving the younger players a chance to play. Unlike Vida, and and Lovren who stayed on the team far too long.
He will for me always be a great midfielder and one of the best.
The only question know is, for players like Modric, and Perisic, will they be able to do the same if they cannot make it back in top form.
Broz will retire in a year. He runs absurd amounts and that wears you down. His game is only good when he runs endlessly. He doesn’t have a pass like luka or dribbling ability of kova. Run and move the ball is his game. He knew when to fold the cards! Bravo Broz.
Really wonder how things would’ve gone if Broz went to Barca instead of Saudi… maybe his form wouldn’t have declined so drastically…
With him being only 31 he could’ve still had a major role in the 2026 cycle had he not chosen the money
‘the money’…….. koga pokušavaš uvjeriti da se ne radi o “money”. mi bi svi učinili isto.
Most of us would go for money. Luka is the exception of a footballer turning down crazy money at retirement age.
I understand his choice, but let’s not act like there hasn’t been a bunch of players who’ve turned down the Saudi oil money.
At the end of the day, different players have different priorities but it is a shame that he chose to make the move so early in his career, especially when he still had top teams interested in him.
Halilović turned down the money 😀
Where is the god of halilovic this year?! He’s got to be on like his tenth team
A sta je Luka radio glavonje…nije u soldima sve..