Does anyone want to take the title this year? Because it is easily up for grabs!
In a season where uncertainty has been the theme, the story continued Wednesday night all across Croatia. Rijeka lost at home to Osijek. Hajduk lost at home to Istra. And Dinamo couldn’t score on the road against Gorica. The question is: is this the most exciting season we’ve seen from Croatian clubs in the past decade? Or is it the most disappointing?
With only five matches remaining, the top-3 sides are only separated by four points. On top of that, Rijeka and Hajduk are only separated by goal differential. I have no idea how this thing is going to end. But one thing I know: If Dinamo somehow come back to win the league (AGAIN), this will be the biggest Adriatic collapse by Rijeka and Hajduk ever…in a season where Dinamo had ZERO BUSINESS winning.
I can’t even wrap my head around today’s results. However, a $100 3-team parlay (Osijek, Istra, Gorica) would have paid out $35,000 today.
Big loss for Hajduk.
Next week’s derby will be the most important in 20 years.
Hajduk on a bad streak, but they still have a great home record and they beat Dinamo last time at Poljud under similar circumstances.
It’s a can’t-miss game.
If Hajduk win this one, the final three rounds will be nailbiters for all three teams.
If dinamo win the league…will jakirovic, bjelica, cannavaro all get winner medals?
Another disaster for Hajduk losing 2 – 0 to Osijek with Brajkovic getting red carded in the first half.
With Dinamo beating Rijeka 1 – 0 the difference now is one point between the three teams. Huge match next week with Hajduk hosting Dinamo.
FA Cup. City leading 1-0 at half. (On Sportsnet in Canada.)
Kovacic playing very well, dictating the flow of the game. Gvardiol solid.
2-0 City over Forest. FA Cup semi-finals. They are now in the FA Cup finals against Crystal Palace.
Gvardiol scored the second City goal with a great header.
Kovacic player of the match on Fotmob.
Gvardiol player of the match on Sofascore.
Barca vs Real Madrid Copa De Rey Final 3-2. Madrid were struggling in the first half with a goal down. Second half Mbbape Modric and Guler came on and they improved. Madrid scored 2 goals leading and late 80 minute Courtais runs out of his net and Barca score. Modric gave away a pass right before penalties and they score.
Modric had a good game with a lot of running and good passing. However, you can tell he is starting to get tired. Too be fair Ancelotti did take off Rudiger around 110 because he wqs limping so Madrid were playing with 2-3 defenders.
Madrid were better with players like Ronaldo Bale Kroos. They had better attitudes and seemed to listen to the coaches. Ancelloti has to deal with players like Vinicuis who have big egos. Madrid needed more defenders and a striker who could finish. Only so much Ancelotti can do.
This might be the last seasons for Ancelotti and Modric
Also you could see Modrics heartbreak after they scored the third goal and Ancelotti was fuming.
Your right…Real woke up as soon as Modric came on. However, I thought Brahim should have come to receive that pass. Modric was fuming at him for not coming to collect the ball, instead going in the opposite direction. Too bad. He was playing well, and now he’ll get blamed for the loss.
Brahim didn’t move, might have even gone backwards … was poor. To be asleep that at that part of the game/field….People posted a pic of the incident and the Barcelona goal scorer isn’t even in the photo. yet Brahim appears to be just chillin’.
https://freeimage.host/i/gpftvtfxqaar02h.3VblWqG
Wildly entertaining game nonetheless.
In my opinion, it was totally Brahim’s fault, but it’s coming off as if Modric is partially responsible, which of course wouldn’t boost his chances of earning another season at Real 🙁
Real and Barcelona are 2-2. I hope that Real can win this.
Sorry Maminjo – Anton’s goal in 95′ puts Niko back in Europe in 6th (for now)
x.com/GoalsXtra/status/1916151870164189443
LMAO
x.com/Roro_Bayern/status/1914257083572146331/photo/1
How many fails in one post ?
Vidovic posting a shower selfie with Stanisic (who doesn’t look pleased – although he too has his phone in his hand)
What’s wrong with this generation ?
You don’t take, and definitely don’t post, selfies with other guys in the bath
Maybe he already has eyes on his next career ?
To make matters worse the song choice is Seka Aleksic
🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦
We’ve come a long way (in the wrong direction) in just 10 years
We actually have a precedent here
In 2014 – when Modric and co were in the hot tub after the Brazil match – were they taking selfies and posting on IG ? Of course not – that would be silly. They were just doing their thing and some stupid pap snapped up a photo of them through the bushes
Per Bild
T*ttenham inquiries re Niko Kovac (and I guess conjoined Robert) to replace Ange in summer
Is Kovac actually doing that well with Dortmund though?
He’s 5W 4L 1D since taking over from Sahin. They’re in 7th place right now (missing Europe next season).
Just seems like a very average performance.
Hard to make conclusions based on aggregate ?
He beat Barca (their only loss in 2025) and lost at Nou Camp
Beat and tied Sporting
Beat and tied Lille
So pretty decent (but haven’t watched his matches so no view on tactics, in game management, etc)
Still 4 games left in the league – let’s see how he finishes off
But if he does qualify for Europe not sure why he’d go to Spurs (they have to win Europa to get in CL otherwise no Europe next year)
But take all these “reports” w grain of salt ie who “leaked”, what’s their objective/incentive, etc
Per Bild
Tottenham looking at Niko Kovac (and conjoined Robert) to replace Ange
x.com/bvbnewsblog/status/1915178884443652244
Crnac has a new manager Jack Wilshere w/ 2 games left Middlesborough and Cardiff (managed now by Aaron Ramsey – Wilshere teammate at Arsenal for a decade)
***.youtube.com/watch?v=O2fZB_I64CU
People keep talking about the HNL being weaker this year compared to last year because of the under-performing Big 3 – but I’d argue it’s the opposite if you look at the league as a whole. Any team in the league is now capable of beating any other team including the Big 3, which we haven’t seen for a few years now.
Last year Rudes were a joke, and Belupo only stayed up because of how bad Rudes were. But this year there are no outliers. Sibenik in 10th is a vast upgrade from Rudes – it will be a shame if they end up getting relegated which looks likely now even though they’ll probably end up with more points than the 9th placed team last year. Varazdin and Belupo are also much improved. It’s been the most exciting season for years so far, when you look at the league overall.
We’ll see what happens in Europe next season. That should be the litmus test that will confirm whether our Big-3 teams got weaker or whether our league got stronger and has more parity now.
If Hajduk win are able to sign Džeko, they might be able to qualify and make a run in Europe.
Dinamo should be good to do well in CL, Europa and Conference League. They generally do.
Rijeka are generally okay (assuming they qualify).
It’s just that we’re not sure how Hajduk will do in Europe, since they’re pretty much the LA Clippers of knockout round football.
We need all three teams to do well (and not just rely entirely on Dinamo) to raise our country coefficient.
The Czech league has moved up to 9th ranked league in Europe.
If Rijeka and Hajduk could perform half as well as Dinamo could in Europe, we would be up there instead of them.
Thank you for raising the point about our coefficient Maminjo, it’s well taken.
At times these conversations seem very polarized and one-sided.
It makes a difference when all teams are doing well in Europe, and not just Dinamo, I have been arguing this for a while.
We need these teams, and the management behind them, to really start considering how to make the teams better over all. It just seems strange for a wide open tournament, that the big 3 (if you wanna call them that) are not taking advantage or are getting held back by some of the other clubs.
Now maybe Londonac is right, but I am not quite sold on theory just yet.
Potential for 4 in Europe if Jagusic can beat Rijeka in the Croatian Cup final
Sorry – if Slaven win cup and finish 4th – they get in Europa right via the cup ?
So their Conference League spot by virtue of finishing 4th goes to 5th place Varazdin
Correct ?
If so we could have 5 teams in Europe next season
Not 100% – please correct Anonymous if wrong
I don’t think it matters which team wins the cup we will only have 4 clubs in Europe.
As things stand it is Rijeka, Hajduk and Dinamo as certainties and Slaven as the fourth placed team. I would not be surprised if Istra finishes fourth. If Slaven win the cup ? then even if Istra was to finish 4th they would miss out on Europe.
I thought we only had three teams this year.
If a fourth team makes it, then I hope it’s Istra (because I think they would do best).
Slaven will probably lose their coach next year and Jagušić too, so they probably won’t qualify.
Varaždin has plateaued and has just been drawing everyone since they lost Šego.
Istra is most likely to keep their coach and team intact.
Plus, they do have a couple of young wingers in Rozić and Lisica who are still 21 and could benefit us with the added exposure.
We had 4, Dinamo, Rijeka, Hajduk and Osijek.
Mart, I get your point
But the problem is less a matter of who wins the cup, and more a matter if they can compete in Europe at the international stage against stronger teams. If they can’t stay competitive in the HNL then they cannot hope to make any deep runs internationally, and our coefficient stays the same as it is. That’s the real fear, every time our teams go to either the Champions League, Europa, or the Conference League they don’t often make it far (save Dinamo) so it doesn’t do much for Croatian soccer overall.
Its the National Squad we are most concerned about I think. If Croatian club teams can start competing on the international level then they gain some noteriety (and even profit) and people may be drawn to play for these clubs and bringing the value of Croatian soccer up overall.
at the same time…
If the Croatian league gain notoriety and the teams become more ambitious in European competitions, then maybe Dinamo and Hajduk start using their newfound prize money to sign more foreigners (leaving less room for developing youngsters).
It’s a double-edged sword.
We need to become more like Spain (who always has a roster filled with Spaniards) and less like Italy (whose own youth squads are majority foreigners).
It is the UEFA country coefficient that determines how many clubs participate in Europe. Currently HNL is ranked 21st so it means that we have 4 clubs in Europe.
It is important that we maintain or ideally improve the ranking so that more of our clubs can compete in Europe. To achieve this, we need all our clubs to do better Hajduk in particular.
Now that they have changed the format of UEFA competitions, i.e. no more group stages but rather a league system which means all our clubs providing that they could get through the qualifying rounds would be guaranteed e.g. minimum 6 matches in the Conference League meaning more money for the clubs and more experience for the players.
So putting it all together
It’s 4 teams
If Slaven win the cup (and finish top 4)
But
It’s 5 teams
If Slaven win the cup (and don’t finish top 4)
Will be interesting to see if Slaven rest players ahead of the Cup (as that would get them in Europa – do they want to get into Europa vs. Conference League ?) i.e. Dinamo (ahead of 1st leg) and Rijeka (ahead of 2nd leg) [Slaven play Rijeka 3 of 4 final matches]
if anyone can,
jagusic can
If Sibenik has to go into bankruptcy (not paying wages in 2025, etc) don’t they get relegated to 4th division (like Vukovar in 2012) ?
If Sibenik finishes 9th or higher and let’s say Loko finishes 10th and Sibenik bankrupcy do both Vukovar and Opatija come up from 2nd tier to 1st tier (as 2 teams from 1st tier relegated) ?
I was so happy watching Dinamo lose 1 – 0 to Gorica and I thought this has to be it for Hajduk, win against Istra and 20 year wait for the title is almost over for us long suffering fans.
Not to be, despite playing in front of 24K home supporters they were not good enough and lost deservedly to a better team. We did not create any clear-cut chances, and once again it was clear as day that we rely too much on Livaja and when he is marked out of the game or has a bad day we are stuffed.
Confidence in the team must be low, the team is struggling to create chances not to mention scoring goals. Osijek on Sunday will be tough, but I still have hope that Hajduk can pull it off and win the title??
Baturina took a couple more EUR m off his transfer value when he tumbled over in the box in the 41′ when Mikanovic pushed him in the chest – funny play
In the 49′ Baturina had a nice shot inside the box which just missed – but I don’t get the theatrics afterwards with him turning around to the camera and grabbing his head – was he looking for a cookie ?
Anonymous wishes they banned this grabbing the head in disbelief that is endemic these days – it’s happening after every shot by everyone now – it’s so silly (Pajaziti in the 15′ takes the cake though – when he drops to the knees that grabs the head – btw how the heck is PL Fulham loaning their players to Gorica these days – he’s born in Britain can’t they get him a spot in Championship or League One – and Gorica players being called up to Albania NT ?)
btw re: Anthony Pavlesic “one-time switch” at 19
See Pajaziti
Albania U19 –> Kosovo U21 –> Albania U20 –> Albania U21 –> Albania senior NT (2 caps)
i.e. he was able to switch back to Albania after playing 3 caps for Kosovo U21
***.transfermarkt.us/adrion-pajaziti/nationalmannschaft/spieler/626301/verein_id/3561/plus/0?hauptwettbewerb=&wettbewerb_id=&trainer_id=&start=Oct+11%2C+2015&ende=Apr+24%2C+2025&nurEinsatz=0