Luka Modrić came off the bench in the 63rd minute Saturday and supplied an assist (off a corner) to help force a 1-1 draw against city rivals Atletico Madrid. Atletico played with 10 men from the 69′ on. It wasn’t the result Real were looking for in the La Liga title race, however, in a shock result on Sunday, Barcelona lost 1-0 to Almeria. That means the gap between the two Spanish rivals is only seven points at the moment. It could be a blessing in disguise if Barca pull away as Real Madrid would then be able to focus their efforts on Champions League and Copa del Rey for the remainder of the season. But, for the moment, it’s still within reach.
Modrić will miss Real’s next La Liga match due to yellow cards.
Borna Sosa scored the lone goal of the match Saturday in a 2-1 defeat to Bundesliga basement club, Schalke. He ripped a shot from 20 yards out right at the goalkeeper but it somehow found the back of the net. Nonetheless, it’s Sosa’s second straight goal in as many weekends.
Josip Juranović remained on the bench as an unused sub as Union Berlin missed a golden opportunity in the Bundesliga title race. Berlin lost 3-0 to leaders Bayern Munich on Sunday and now sit three points behind both Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. Josip Stanišić got the start for Bayern but was subbed off in the 78′ with an injury. “Josip Stanišić comes off after bleeding profusely. He took an elbow to the face.”
Both Mateo Kovačić and Ivan Perišić did not feature on Sunday in the London Derby as Spurs defeated Chelsea 2-0. Spurs remain in the top-4 while Chelsea sit in 10th place. Perišić sat on the bench this match while Kova was ruled out with an “illness”.
Dinamo Zagreb dismantled Haduk Split 4-0 on Sunday at Maksimir. It was over before the seats ever got warm as Dinamo took a 3-0 lead in the 38′. Ivanušec was MOTM with a brace while Ademi and Baturina added a goal each as well.
Just watched Hajduks youth team beat Manchester City 2-1 at Poljud. City dominated possession with Hajduk converting basically there only 2 chances, aided by some goalkeepeing blunders. Defended well for the most part. Its always nice to see one of our teams screw an English side. I know the Welsh Federation and UEFA had some issues with Poljud being host of the upcoming qualifier, but the place seemed fine today. That non-story has kind of quieted down.
Congratulations to Hajduk’s U19 team as they just defeated Manchester City 2-1 at Poljud to advance to the Quarterfinals of the Champions League! 👏🇭🇷👏🇭🇷
UEFA Youth CL Round of 16, Hajduk 2 Man City 1.
Incredible match by Hajduk, two goals in the first half on counter attack had them leading 2 – 0 only to concede on stroke of half time. Second half Hajduk defended superbly often with 11 players behind the ball and with guts and a bit of luck they held out.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CpM2SHyDKFX/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=
Although I’m (still) not his greatest fan, Dalic is doing a good job of motivating the team. Here he’s complaining about getting no respect. This helps set up “underdog” status, something we absolutely thrive in.
Paški sir .. best in the world!
Musa would have been called up years ago but had an untimely injury pre World Cup.
His time is now.
He struggles for minutes at Benfica but I actually think it is a good thing as he learns to perform though adversity.
He has a hunger to score.
192 cm and can move.
He has to get a look.
Don’t forget also best scoring frequency in the Portuguese league as a substitute, something to keep in mind and I hope Dalic does call him up for once.
Is it possible to buy Pag cheese in Canada?
Just google “paski sir” there’s a few companies that will deliver it to ur house… I’ve seen it in the US at a few higher end stores with big cheese sections, but not consistently
Canada ain’t the States. They’re very strict for things like this.
piece of garbage Lovren is already –> Gone
it’s time for a piece of shit Dalic –> be Gone
–> a bright future for us ~ full of talent ~
Ah here we go. Someone else for you to bitch and complain about.
Yes, get rid of the coach that saved our qualifications and sent us to the 2 world cup finals. Talk about an amateur. Nemas pojma
https://bleacherreport.com/post/croatia-international-football/a58b2f01-4771-49af-95f8-650ae42c0c92
Modrić 37 and still best midfielder on the planet ?!!!
Why is that we have all our defenders scoring but unable to find consistent forwards? If I’m Dalic, I’m dropping all my used forwards like Kramaric, Budimir, Orsic, Petkovic. When was the last time Krama scored? January? Perisic can’t score. Bring Musa, Vidovic, Beljo, and others. It’s painful to not see any of our strikers break through this year. Orsic is hurt, Budimir scores 1-3 goals a year. It’s crucial we get fresh talent upfront. Our development at the back line has improved significantly over the past few years. We have offensively gifted defenders. No production from any of our forwards is pitiful and a disgrace.
Shit happens.
We just happen to have a big generation gap with very few quality strikers born in the mid-to-late 90s.
Normally, guys born in the early 90s (like Budimir, Krama, Orsic) should start being phased out due to their age. But we’ll probably have to keep relying on Orsic and Krama for a little longer.
The next set of younger strikers are Livaja and Petkovic (born in the mid-90s), but they would normally be bubble players. They’re not quality forwards. Career HNL journeymen.
Musa is the only striker we have from the late-90s that is National Team worthy. Lucky for us, he seems to be clicking pretty well at Benfica, despite playing off the bench for them. He’s a player who could definitely give Dalic options up top. I would be surprised if he didn’t receive a callup. He’s been good for well over a year.
All these other guys (like Roko, Ljubicic, Beljo, Vidovic) are good prospects and are all born in 2002/03. It really shows how few strikers we had born in the late 90s, when you have several born in that one 2002/03 year that exceeds what we have in the decade before it.
I would probably look to call up Vidovic, because he is actually starting and scoring in the Dutch league…and could be a direct replacement for Ivan Perisic (who is getting very old). We need to start planning for that.
I’d be very happy to see Musa and Vidovic as callups, but I don’t think we see Vidovic for another 18 months if we’re lucky.
Maybe we will get Matej Maglica to change positions.
Defender to forward I think it should work.
agent? or family member?
Broz could moving to another club, Real Madrid among others are currently looking at him due to issues in Inter Milan.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/sempreinter.com/2023/02/25/inter-milan-midfielder-marcelo-brozovic-drawing-interest-from-real-madrid-barcelona-chelsea-italian-media-report/amp/
Big weekend for Croatia’s defense: Sosa, Gvardiol, Umerovic, Smolcic, Stanisic Erlic, and Bradaric all started and played well in their respective matches! Plus the defensive prospects we have in HNL–we are more than covered in this department.
Juranovic on the bench, but stanisic starting
Amazing game by Dinamo and the crowd was incredible. Great atmosphere.
Lovren with a great pass for a goal for LYON …the only issue was it was to the opposing team,and he had no one to blame or point a finger at?
He was getting too much celebration here for being a ‘legend’ and had to remind us again what he’s all about. 😉
Reminds me of all the love Simunic gets on this site, despite being a very average defender (at best) with lots of gaffes.
I enjoy their hardcore patriotism of guys like Lovren and Simunic (and that’s where a lot of us diaspora Croats connect with them on)…but they’re both still very mediocre defenders who were lucky to be paired with more stable CBs on the National Team.
Looking forward to the future backline now that we have more modern defenders capable of relieving some of the responsibilities off our (generally more defensive) midfielders.
STF up. Whole time leading up to WC you were a girl telling everyone that Lovren and Livkakoic have to sit. Turn out two of our best players. Get a life. Get yourself a woman. you can do it.
What a hopeless comment. You cannot even try to demonstrate through arguments how Lovren is good player.
Unlike Lovren, Livakovic did step up in his role, there is a key difference there. Prior to that display in the Word Cup Livakovic was doing terrible, but thankfully he turned things around.
Lovren on the other hand, not really sure what he offers to be honest.
I think Lovren’s cross to Perisic, was the goal that tied up the game with Japan. Probably would not be in the final 4 without that play. Albeit Perisic header accuracy was amazing, and the most the improbable of the Croatian tournament.
The one that did not really show up, like we all thought was Sosa. For a guy who was about to bail on his home country, because he was so good, he could not wait any longer for a starting role he was underwhelming at best. I wished his soccer execution was big as his ego.
Posterized Sosa falling backwards, while he is failing with his feet at the ball, was the most defensive embarrassing sight to see, in the Argentina game, in the whole tournament, since Gvardiol effort in the Euros against Spain.
Bonus points for being the first to use the word “albeit” in a comment. Cestitam.
I’ll admit I was wrong about Livaković.
But Livaković’s strength was always those reaction saves in the 6-yard box, and he faced alot of those in the World Cup. He’s still got the same weaknesses with the high balls, and it’s pretty telling that no club team is willing to meet Dinamo’s 10 million Euro asking price for him.
That’s a small amount of money for an apparent World Class goalkeeper.
Re: Lovren…
It wouldn’t have mattered if Lovren started or if Erlić or Šutalo started instead.
There wouldn’t have been any significant difference.
Lovren was good overall, but not necessary to our success at all. Yes, he had a nice assist, but he also made bad mistakes against Belgium, Canada and Argentina. He was okay overall, but there was no added benefit in starting him over Erlić or Šutalo (and he pretty much kicked and screamed his way into our starting lineup, because Dalić was defaulting to the younger guys leading up to the tournament).
Glad he’s gone and we can finally move forward with our new backline.
shut up_
2020 absolute garbage
and very lucky that Lukaku is a govno +
Garbage? Really. Getting results where results are improbable is the sign of winner in my book. They forced Lukaku to play before he was ready for prime time. Winners find a way to win, and they have done it better than 98% countries on this planet, since the conception of the nation. Have you not heard, the croatian team is on the verge of being considered the 8th wonder of the world by UNESCO by 2025, if they win this next tournament.
I wonder who you’re going to cry about on this site now that Lovren called it quits.
LOL, collectively, ……..Sve, od njih. 2nd job, unpaid.
Is there any chance that there are any links or streams to watch the Hajduk vs Dinamo game for free?
Bembara on YouTube or twitch usually has it.
https://m.youtube.com/live/oWkr0oMW2ZI?feature=share
https://www.goalstube.online/2023/02/schalke-stuttgart.html?m=1
Soft from the keeper but still a solid strike
Good stuff sosa
Orsic listed with a concussion according to Livescore
Reports confirm that Oršič got a concussion from banging his head against the wall, wondering why he came to England
Apparently dalic extending till 2026
Looks like Dalic has his heart set on winning the World Cup! Third time is the Charm!
2-0 Leipzig, so far only one opportunity for the opposing team. Looking strong defensively it appears.
Beljo is also starting on the bench for Augsburg.
A 4-2-2-2 set up for Leipzig and so far 1-0 for them interesting formation.
Too bad Chelsea and Tottenham weren’t more competitive right now
Love to see those two put a good show on
Also hoping JJ plays awesome and bump off Bayern
We all know Bayern will pull off the Dinamo Zagreb at the end and win the league tho