Germany
Photo: Hoffenheim
Andrej Kramarić started off the season with a bang for 1899 Hoffenheim by registering a hat trick on his DFB Cup debut in Barsinghausen on Sunday. The former Dinamo Zagreb striker has now scored eight goals in 16 career matched with Hoffenheim.
Photo: Bayer
Tin Jedvaj started and played the full 90 minutes at right back for Bayer Leverkusen in a 2-1 win over Hauenstein on Sunday in the DFB Pokal. The former Dinamo Zagreb defender picked up a yellow card in the 93rd minute of play bt wasn’t at fault for the lone goal. Ante Rebić was left off the roster for Eintracht Frankfurt in a penalty shootout win over Magdeburg on Sunday. Alen Halilović and Hamburger SV are in action against Zwickau on Monday night.
Italy
In the opening game of the 2016/17 Serie A season, Mario Mandžukić picked up the start for Juventus against Fiorentina on Saturday. Mario couldn’t get anything going and was subbed out for Gonzalo Higuain in the 66th minute of play in a 2-1 win. Besides his subpar performance, MArio might be looking for another place to play as Higuan scored the game winner. Marko Pjaca looked on from the bench for Juventus in the win.
Photo: Fiorentina
Milan Badelj started and played 65 minutes for Fiorentina in the loss. The former Dinamo Zagreb defensive midfielder wasn’t at fault for the first goal and watched the second goal from the bench.
Photo: ilnapolista.it
Nikola Kalinić found his name on the scoring sheet after finding the back of the net with a nice header in the 70th minute of play. Nikola broke free from a defender on the far post and connected on a Josip Iličić corner kick. The Sun has reported that Fiorentina have a £30m price tag on Kalinić and have rejected Everton’s £21m bid last week. It looks like Nikola will spend the rest of the year at Fiorentina.
Nikola Kalinić goal
Ivan Perišić and Marcelo Brozović both came off the bench in the second half for Inter Milan in a 2-0 loss to Chievo on Sunday. Ivan Vargić looked on from the bench as Lazio beat Atalanta 4-3 on Sunday. Former Hajduk Split defender, Ivan Strinić also looked on from the bench as Napoli and Pescara split the points in a 2-2 draw on Sunday.
SPAIN
Ivan Rakitić had a quiet 90 minutes for Barcelona on Saturday as the reigning Spanish champions crushed Real Betis 6-2 in their season opener. Luis Suarez would score a hat trick with Lionel Messi adding two himself. It’s expected for Barcelona and Real Madrid to make a run for the title again this year with Atletico Madrid right behind them. With Champions League starting in September, Rakitić and company will have to stay healthy to stay on par in Europe and Spain.
Real Madrid posted a 3-0 victory over Real Socieded on Sunday in their season opener with Mateo Kovačić stepping in for a suspended Luka Modrić and playing all 90 minutes in the match. Gareth Bale would steal the show for Madrid in the the absence of an injured Cristiano Ronaldo with two goals.
Šime Vrsaljko was not listed on the Atletico Madrid squad list this weekend which would have been his Spanish debut. The Croatian defender was signed by the Madrid club just two months ago from Serie A team Sassuolo. The 24 yearold is expected to do big things in Spain this season. Atletico ended up drawing Alaves in shocking fashion on Sunday.
Duje Čop volley off the corner
Duje Čop scored the first goal of the season for new club Sporting Gijon on Sunday with a mean volley off a corner in the 51st minute. Čop crisply right-footed the ball into the back of the net in a 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao. Čop was on loan in Spain last season for Malaga and has now joined Sporting Dijon on loan from Serie A Club Cagliari. A great start so far for the Croatian striker.
ENGLAND
After a 4-3 season opening victory away to Arsenal, Liverpool failed to keep the momentum going as they fell 2-0 to Burnley on Saturday. Dejan Lovren got the start and played the entire 90 minutes in the match. Lovren was a bit too slow coming back to Sam Vokes as he struck a fantastic shot from outside the box following a Liverpool turnover in the second minute of play. And on Burnley’s insurance goal later in the first half, Lovren wasn’t able to get in front of the ball for a block. All in all a bad loss for Liverpool, however, the season has just begun.
Lovren can’t get a block on either Burnley goal
FRANCE
Danijel Subašić and Monaco picked up their first win of the Ligue 1 campaign on Saturday in a 1-0 win over Nice. Subašić made two comfortable saves in the match. Monaco have four points through two matches, and will look to secure a spot in the Champions League Group Stage this week.
Save: 2:50
RUSSIA
Vedran Ćorluka started for Lokomotiv Moscow on Sunday as they were held to a 0-0 draw on Sunday against Krylya Sovetov. Lokomotiv have been slow out of the blocks in the Russian Premier League, tying their first four matches.
UKRAINE
Domagoj Vida missed his second straight match with a concussion as his Dynamo Kyiv side came from behind to beat Volyn 2-1 on Saturday. Kyiv have taken all 15 points from their first 5 matches.
Next Matches:
Tuesday, 8/23
Villarreal at Monaco(Champions League),
Wednesday, 8/24
Dinamo Zagreb at Salzburg(Champions League),
Thursday, 8/25
Lokomotiva Zagreb at Genk(Europa League), Maccabi Tel Aviv at Hajduk Split(Europa League),
Saturday, 8/27
Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur, Ingolstadt at Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen at Borussia M’gla, Schalke 04 at Frankfurt, Juventus at Lazio, Milan at Napoli, Celta de Vigo at Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid at Leganés, Vorskla at Dynamo Kyiv,
Sunday, 8/28
PSG at Monaco, RB Leipzig at Hoffenheim, Palermo at Inter, Chievo at Fiorentina, Barcelona at Athletic Club, Sporting Gijón at Deportivo Alavés, Lokomotiv Moskva at Krasnodar,
~Ante Kvartuč and Denis Svirčić reporting from sunny Southern California, and Zach Gilfix reporting from Minneapolis, MN
@ Anonymous
It’s early to define Balić a case, but he’s not far from that.
He has not been given any chance so far. Understandably during last season as the team was trying to keep a place in serie A and the player was still adapting.
They must have probably realized that they are going to struggle a bit this year as well. In general, they are investing less money in scouting and bringing in only second tier choices. Pozzo seems to have lost some interest now that he also owns a team in England where more money is involved.
If you add that this will be the first year without their captain Di Natale and they have also lost some experienced player like Domizzi the situation does not look comfortable.
Last but not least, my personal 2 cents, is that the manager is not that good. I do not understand their policies : since they fired Guidolin they only brought in managers who look for the immediate results and are not oriented towards development of the players.
Iachini is not even outstanding in terms of results alone…
Back to focus: the starting playmaker should have been Lodi, but he has not impressed and they are now reportedly after Viviani. Regarldess the buy, the sole news dictates that the manager does think that the former Hajduk player is not yet ready for serie A.
He has not played in pre season friendlies, and has not trained with the first team this week either.
The only reason why he is still in the squad is because Pozzo hopes to raise some money in the near future.
Not an ideal situation I have to say.
Though some supporters criticized the manger during the week and blatantly shouted at him to play the young Croatian midfielder at least to see whether he is a bust or not… afterall no one has ever seen him play in Udine!
Not yet a case.. but should the situation keep like this, some big changes are expected in January….
hvala for the updates everyone!
@Anonymous he was not in the squad this past weekend… but Udinese are good with giving young players chances to play so he will see some action at some point
Talijan any insight with Andrija Balic?
Great start to the season.
Great write up.
Thank you Talijan for your two cents too.
Talijan, thank you brother!
Good write up!
Posavec played fairly well vs Sassuolo and made a good impression just like he did last season in his debut match.
The manager has asked for a new goalkeeper but Zamparini (the owner) said he has trust in the young croatian goalie. By the way they are my favorite team to get relegated together with Crotone this year. It’ll be a tough season for Posavec.
De Boer said he din’t play Perišić cause he is not on top form yet, but he rates the player. I bet he will get a starting spot next sunday. Though I am not sure that De Boer is cut out to manage in Serie A…. we’ll see.
Some more market news from Serie A:
Brozović was on Juve radar, but Inter said they would only sell him abroad. Now there are also talks about contract extension … go figure.
Mario Pašalić is said to be on the verge of signing a loan deal with AC MILAN who are desperately trying to get some midfielder on board. They also tried to sign Kovačić, but Florentino Perez did not accept a loan offer.
Kalinić is being reported to have received an offer from Napoli. Gabbiadini +15m to Fiorentina.
The fact that they like the former Dnipro player is not a secret, whether the news is true, is to be confirmed.
Josip Maganjic joined fiorentina for 1m. Hrvoje Milić landed in Firenze as well.
The former will be used in the youth team. The latter is poised to be a back up for Marco Alonso .
Domagoj Vida could be the next Torino central defender. Reportedly the player has an agreement already, however the two teams are still in talks. Torino also followed Celtics’ Šimunović for a couple weeks. Very unlikely that both player will arrive in town.
Lastly, my personal hope: Bruno Petković to some serie A team (Palermo and Bologna have him on the radars)
Ha no problem.. Dinamo on TV today in champions league qualifier. This will be Marko Rog’s last game before taking off for Napoli… Also Eduardo’s last game, it’s tied 1-1
Lol , thanks Mate. Missed that. Guess my statement stands, replace all… “Mancini” replace with “De Boer”
They got rid of Mancini last week
I’d say that was an incredible opening weekend for Croats.
Oops by Mancini (Inter) If Mancini didn’t start Perisic because Inter want to sell him, they just screwed the pooch. By losing Inter just realized they can’t sell him, otherwise they won’t qualify for ANY tournaments and might get relegated. They literally have one of the best wings in the world, and got him for dirt cheap! I would get rid of defensive minded Mancini well before I get rid of Perisic!
Wonder what is up with Vrsaljko? Either way, we WILL miss Srna’s possession/attacking capabilities from RB for many years. Even tho he was certainly waning.
Yep, goals galore by hrvati this past weekend, don’t ya just love it when a Hrvat finds the back of the net!!?
Fun fact, scorer against Leverkusen for Hauenstein was Croatian Andelo Srzentic.
I can’t wait to see how Josip Brekalo and his development go this year in the bundesliga.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn6ofLAEy3Q
Livaja goals at 15 and 88′ of match
http://www.barcablaugranes.com/2016/8/23/12598378/watch-alen-halilovic-goal-hamburger-barcelona-german-cup
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned it, but Santini scored a double last week for Caen!
Both Livaja’s goals were quality, I watched the game, he should’ve had a hat-trick.
Ante Budimir also played the last 25mins for Sampdoria!
bad boy livaja scored two goals today vs valencia
Uh, Oh! Looks like the punk of Croatian football is baaaacck! This time he’s resurfaced in Las Palmas, and he’s already opened up his scoring account this season….
But Livaja is still WAY too controversial to be on Repka!
i still have faith halilokebab is gonna be a very handy player for us
alen halilovic with a beauty earlier today
Well, well, well, looks like Inter found out the hard way what happens when ya leave Hrvati on the bench!
Look forward to seeing more Hrvati starting for their teams this season. ‘Cause I only watch matches where a Hrvat starts (unless it’s some kinda important game). And as soon as a Hrvat gets subbed out, I’ve already changed the channel to infomercials or Nickelodeon or something…
Anyway, I watched a lotta Inter and Fiorentina matches last season because I would getta 2 for 1 deal if ya know whaddya mean (i.e. Kalinic, Badelj; Brozovic, Perisic). Now if there were 3 or 4 starting–that would be something!
Good to see Cop, Kalinic, and Kramaric open the season with a flying start. We’re gonna need all the artillery we can get if where gonna top the qualifying group.
any word on brozovic and perisic starting on the bench for inter?
injuries?
or being kept healthy for transfers>?
glad to hear my boy kramaric is keeping up the good work #neverlostthefaith
Josip posavec is now the starting goalkeeper for Palermo.. He had a clean sheet in last weeks Italian cup game and this week he gave up one goal on 22 shots, 8 or 9 on target
News about the olympics:
Most gold medals per capita:
1/ Bahamas : 1 per 388k citizens (1 total)
2/ Jamaica : A per 546k citizens (6 total)
3/ Croatia : 1 per 845K (5 total)
And still some people here claim that we’re mental midgets.
It’s a little concerning for me that so many of our NT starters were on the bench this weekend. I would prefer to see a bit more movement in the transfer market for our boys before the window closes.
Should have mentioned that Kalinic scored the goal in Fiorentina’s 1-2 loss to Juve.
Kramaric with a hat trick today for Hoffenheim. I didn’t watch the match though. Kovacic was selected for RM ahead of both Isco and James Rodriguez and played well in their 3-0 win. Modric was serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation from last season.
On the negative side, Vrsaljko was not even selected as part of the squad this week for Ath Madrid and Pjaca didn’t get on the pitch for Juve. Mandzukic played, but was pulled in the 60th minute for Higuain who scored the match winner.
Little blurb here about Coric maybe going to City or Liverpool.
http://www.espnfc.us/blog/transfer-talk/79/post/2933322/chelsea-negotiating-james-rodriguez-70m-departure-from-real-madrid
Anyone know what is going on with Palasic?
pjaca will turn into a top striker… heard it here first! or if not… i will deny it forever!
I remember watching Boksic for Lazio hehe, and Juve too, those were the days, back then we had top strikers !
If Juve vs Fiorentina was on tv it would be my first Serie A game I watched since I used to watch Boksic for Lazio. Inter vs Juve will be fun to watch too. Inter-squad scrimmage with meaning. Hopefully Pjaca & Mandzo actually play.