SPAIN
It was an El Clasico for the ages! With Barcelona needing all three points at the Bernabeu to make any shot at a La Liga title possible, Ivan Rakitić and Lionel Messi showed up in the biggest way. Coming into the match, Real madrid would have been content with a draw as they had a three point lead on Barcelona as well as a game in hand. And everything was going in Madrid’s favor when Casemiro put Los Blancos up 1-0 in the 28th minute. However, Rakitić would slot a pass to Messi in the box five minutes later to tie up the match going into halftime.
In the 73rd minute, Rakitić would break the deadlock, cutting back the ball just outside the box and sending a left-footed strike inside the left post. The goal looked to be the winner, however, substitute James scored the equalizer for Real Madrid in the 85th minute. But in true Lionel Messi fashion, the Argentine secured a 3-2 win for Barcelona on the last kick of the game two minutes into extra time with a left-footed strike. The victory put Barcelona level on points with Real Madrid and will surely ramp up the team’s motivation going into the final stretch of the season. Luka Modrić played the full 90 minutes for Real Madrid, dictating the offense in usual fashion and sending one powerful shot towards goal. Mateo Kovačić came off the bench in the 70th minute and had minimal impact on the game even though he picked up a yellow card for a hard tackle on Messi.
Rakitić assist at 1:15, Goal at 3:24
Duje Čop played the full 90 minutes for Sporting Dijon and assisted on the last goal in a 2-2 draw with Osasuna. The draw keeps Sporting in the relegation zone, four points behind Leganes for safety. Alen Halilović got the start and played 77 minutes for Las Palmas in a 1-1 draw against Alaves on Sunday. Halilović hasn’t scored one goal for Las Palmas since coming over from Hamburg in the winter and has been a slight disappointment thus far in 2017.
ENGLAND
Dejan Lovren had a nightmare performance Sunday in a 2-1 Liverpool loss to Crystal Palace. A win would have kept Liverpool on pace to qualify for a top-4 Champions League berth but now those hopes are in trouble. Although still in third place, both Manchester clubs are within three points and have two games in hand. Lovren is to blame for one goal as he was slow to track back to his defender and mis-marked the Palace defender on a set piece for the second goal. Manager Jurgen Klopp decided to sub out Lovren in the 79th minute for tactical reasons.
France
Danijel Subašić and Co. picked up another big victory, winning 2-1 at Lyon on Sunday to keep Monaco in France’s pole position. Subašić made two saves and was not at fault for Lyon’s goal. Monaco and PSG are level on points, but Monaco has a game in hand and a big goal difference advantage, with five matches remaining in Ligue 1 play for Monaco and only four for PSG.
Germany
Ante Rebić got on the scoresheet as Eintracht Frankfurt won it’s first match in 12 with a 3-1 victory at home to Augsburg on Saturday. Rebić scored an added time clincher after running down a lackluster backpass and finishing into an empty net in the 91st minute. In addition to the goal, Rebić had six other shots and created one chance. Frankfurt kept their European dream alive with the win, as they sit tied for 8th and three points out of 6th with 4 matches left.
Andrej Kramarić started for Hoffenheim in their 1-1 draw at FC Koln on Friday. Kramarić played the first 57 minutes before being subbed off with the score still at 0-0. He had two shots and created one chance in his time on the pitch. Hoffenheim fell one spot to 4th in the Bundesliga, but still have a 9 point cushion on 5th placed Hertha Berlin with 4 games to go in the campaign.
Tin Jedvaj served his one match suspension for last week’s red card in Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-1 loss at Freiburg on Sunday. The loss leaves Leverkusen 12th in the Bundesliga with four matches left, disappointingly closer to relegation than to the European placings, just a year after they finished 3rd.
Russia
Disaster struck for Vedran Ćorluka as he started at the back in an action-packed 3-3 draw at home to Amkar on Saturday. Ćorluka assisted on Lokomotiv’s second goal, and all was well for the Croat and his side before the 80th minute, when Ćarli went down with a ruptured achilles tendon. The injury means Ćorluka will miss around six months, which could mean missing 3-5 World Cup qualifiers. Lokomotiv would go on to concede a 3rd goal in the 88th minute.
Ukraine
Domagoj Vida played the full match for Dynamo Kyiv as they fell 1-0 at home to Darijo Srna’s Shakhtar Donetsk on Saturday. The “6-pointer” going the way of Shakhtar was enough to clinch the Ukrainian Premier League title for them, with 6 matches still to play. Dynamo will likely clinch a second place finish in the next two weeks, which should result in an anti-climactic final month in Ukraine.
Zach IS A NICE KID BUT NOW WE HAVE Shanaelle Petty???????
Noooo THIS IS NOT CROATIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luka should take his trophies this year and get the heck out of their….
its insane how soccer is as a sport cause literally you are toast after just a couple of bad games… hockey ya you go on slumps but teams know that and quality always comes back
soccer is a very interesting and funny game
i didn’t watch the game but end of the day ronaldo is a bitch
respect his talent but still a bitch
real leaders take blame and don’t stick it on others
http://metro.co.uk/2017/04/25/cristiano-ronaldo-let-rip-at-marcelo-and-luka-modric-in-dressing-room-tantrum-after-barcelona-defeat-6596105/
@idemo
Well said. Nuff said. Hope this crap doesn’t creep up again or I’m outta here.
@Green
“Liberia confers nationality solely on the basis of race. Under the current Liberian constitution, only persons of black African origins may obtain citizenship, although Liberian law allows members of other races to hold permanent residency status.”
So you believe that black people should only be able to obtain permanent residency status in Croatia, which is what Liberian law allows?
Goni se u tri picke materina, mali se trudi i prati nas nogomet, nikad glumi kao hrvat. A ti, ti si Jedno obicno dubre koje ne smije imat internet, majmune jedan.
@Green
Hey I agree with most of your last comment above don’t get me wrong. I share the same belief more or less with what’s happening in the world right now with this Globalist vs Nationalist cultural ideology war. There’s an agenda to turn Europe as multicultural/racial/religious as possible. Easier control of a country when it’s not homogeneous because there tends to be less unity. Look at the shit happening in Western Europe. It makes zero sense to not have migrants head to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar (Gulf Sunni nations). Israel seems to be the only country in the world who is a “democracy” but they don’t have to accept people from all over the world. It’s zidovi and zidovi only in that country and the media says kurac because it’s run by zionists.
It’s not arrogance. After reading your post and getting an idea of your political opinion I agree with most of it. I just think it’s a bit much to rip on a non Croatian who writes news articles for a Croatian sports website that’s all.
Zizou played that wrong. You get your tieing goal and you’re down a man. Sit back and preserve the draw and the League is yours. Now it’s back on..
Long before candidate Trump was even conceived I said on this site Croatia’s long term peace & prosperity could be secured by having a ‘Whites-only’ immigration policy as Liberia has a ‘Blacks-only’ immigration policy – which would have prevented Croatia from joining the E.U.
Sure enough, Hungary, a nation famous for its fanatical nationalism that even Hitler feared is getting pro-white German immigrants escaping Germany’s “diversity” b/c they are essentially doing what I said.
Non-Hungarians will fight to preserve the nation of Hungary b/c they had the balls & brains to be amongst the 1st.
Meanwhile, dumb cowardly Croatia joins the E.U. just before it is starting to collapse.
Anti-white morons think non-whites have an eternal right to access to White people based SOLELY on today’s reality. Don’t know jack shit about REAL history. What ever today’s fashion is will last forever, which on its face is retarded; but that doesn’t stop these retards from laughing at me as though I’m the one who’s stupid. That’s the part I despise, the arrogant stupidity.
I don’t think it’s true that Kovacic didn’t run back on defense, is there any proof of this? From what I saw/remember, he and Modric were pressing high up the pitch trying to win the ball back so it seemed as though despite being a man down Madrid was going for the win: high risk: losing the game & keeping Barcelona in the title hunt. And even higher reward: going for the jugular & essentially winning the title now and thereby limiting ‘the war’ to one front: the Champions League.
@Vice Vukov, you are accusing me of “hate” for wanting to preserve my own kind? Appreciate what?
@CroatianPerson85, where in my comment did I say anything even remotely related to what you thought I said?
@Idemo, he’s one of a few nobodies at “croatian sports”, he’s not Croatian. Every single nation that has been destroyed had too many people like you in it that claimed people of foreign races are “one of us”.
EVERY SINGLE ONE. And THAT is the point I’m making – THAT IS MY CONTRIBUTION.
Stipe & Faux Cro-
Didn’t see it, but no excuses for lack of hustle! All you have to do is watch Strinic & Brozo in the lead upto Portugal’s goal vs Us last summer. Still have a hard time forgiving them.
Watching some Napoli games gave ne insight into how much Strinic likes to make runs BUT doesn’t like to hustle back.
@Stipe:
I noticed too. Pique beat him back.
As a young, fast substitute he should have never gotten back later than Pique.
Perhaps too much was given too early to him. #10 at Inter as a teenager. Luka Modric and Rakitic worked their way up though small clubs and paid their dues.
Modric was getting his balls kicked in in Bosnia at 20.
kovacic was the biggest cursed/damned player who had been effected by estonian’s game so far. At least Pjaca did not mess up Juventus game vs Barcelona due to injury.
Am I the only one who saw that Real Madrid loss because Kovacic DID NOT RUN BACK ON DEFENSE, HE JOGGED. Kovacic was suppose to pick up on Messi. He didn’t. Messi had a wide opened goal at the last second.
Anyone, what’s that say about Kovacic?
Someone who gets subbed into a huge match and doesn’t even run in the last play to pick up on Messi?
Is anyone else bothered by this???
I hope Bilic would accommodate an outcast player
I hear Matej Delac headed to west ham. maybe Posavec will be the next. but rumor says he will go to Milan!
Who is zach gifix?
haha idemo, yeah, well that comment was on point – that was brilliance from Simunic 😉
Zach, don’t pay attention to that goof green.
@Green
Including this post, there are 69 messages in this thread. Everyone contributing some sort of comment, joke, idea, recommendation etc whatever, some sort of contribution.
You have posted once and your 1 post is a dump on Zach. That’s your contribution to everyone on this thread.
@Green and anyone else who agrees with his previous comment above.
What’s your beef with Zach if he’s a non Croat who takes interest in Croatian sports? Do you simply not like that a non Croat (and I don’t know Zach but let’s assume he’s not Croatian) reports on Croatian sports news?
I don’t see you doing weekly informative write ups of Croatians playing soccer around the world. I think most people on this site agree that Crosports has been keeping us in the loop for a good while now and Zach is partially responsible for that with his work.
Only a narrow minded seljak complains about the hard work someone does that they would never do. You sound like the guy at work who gets angry at people who work too hard because it shows how little they do.
Ma koji ti je kurac faken
Keep up the good work Zach 99.9% of us on this site appreciate it.
Green…what is your problem? Stop the hate and appreciate.
ZACH = ONE OF US.
Wow I don’t know zach but he putting his time and effort to inform us how our croats are doing
Stop posting douche bag comments like that
And no I’m not some commie so screw off with the comment u will respond with
Anyways mandzukic with a nice goal as well!
Shitty bout corluka
Simunovic being rated well at Celtic.
Obviously Scotland isn’t top top league but this is sounding promising. Hopefully he gets some experience there and moves on to top 5 league
@Zach Gilfix, stop being delusional, you are NOT Croatian. You aren’t even White for God’s sake. The day Croatians become loyal to the Croatian flag and the not the people it’s supposed to represent is the day “loyalty” to that flag becomes TREASON against Croatians.
You are the son of a race TRAITOR, go back to YOUR people.
hahahaha iggy has the highest rated comment on the video I’m in tears
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAgfdKUz1LY
one of the best fouls i have ever seen. look up the serbian commentators ” godinama u nazad”
@Idemo-good point, brings back memories ZDS Simunic
Marcelo should have fouled at half field, even if it’s red who cares
The last goal Messi scored was Kovacic’s fault. That lazy muthafucka jogged when all of Madrid was running back on defense. Kovacic was supposed to pick up Messi but he jogged instead. All his fault. It really was embarrassing. If I was Zidane I wouldn’t play Kovacic another min. He is def gonna leave madrid.
Ronaldo celebrates like that you tear him a new one for being a cocky arrogant prick
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/795538/Thierry-Henry-Real-Madrid-Barcelona-El-Clasico-Ivan-Rakitic
how do you explain for his left foot in the 2nd leg of Juventus game, he swung the ball right after he kicked with his left foot.
The ref today didn’t give a clear penalty shot to Real on Ronaldo and he called at least 3 offsides that were not…all replays showed they were not even close to offside in the last 3rd of Barca’s end.
Messi was incredible as usual, but the ref helped Barca today and that’s a shitty thing when one team gets a regular advantage over another
Rakitic is definitely world class, we saw at Sevilla what he’s capable of doing, obviously not gonna shine like that at Barca with Messi, Suarez and Neymar around.
I just remembered, no Neymar today, full strength Real Madrid, no problem!
Don’t worry Real Madrid fans, you don’t have play Tenerife in the last round!
El Croatico … was awesome!
Now I know why Messi loves to play with Rakitic.
Ronaldo calling for high press in the 91′ instead of getting behind the ball and sharing the point, classic ego grip.
You can take off Toni Kroos and just give his minutes to Kovačić. This will lighten the load off Modrić who has to carry his square balls in big matches.
God Bless Ramos, for every big header there is an even bigger red card awaiting.
Messi was transcendent
Rakitic was World Class
Sergio Roberto was impactful
This is the key to the entire right half of the field for Barca.
@ BZ
MANventus looks scarier then ever.
Thank god Real may have to only play them in one match and not a two legged tie.
Zidane has some thinking to do.
Real Madrid have the talent but some things need to be tweaked.
Loved Messi’s celebration on that last goal, nice way to shut up all the stupid Real Madrid fans!
But he was great today
You can’t tell me rakitic has played a year like last year or even from Sevilla time
@BZ
When Rakitic plays centrally, he does well.
When he plays wide, he does not.
He had to cover Marcelo a lot today. Something Alves did more of in the past.
Caker
Awesome, thanks
Faux Cro
I believe the term is “mangiacake” or “caker”.
It was started by immigrant Italians who couldn’t believe that Canadians had no cuisine, and rarely ate any actual home cooked meals and a lot of junk food (like cake).
Reports of Rakitic’s demise turned out to be greatly exaggerated…just saying. Can’t wait to hear the spin on this! Only reason he underperformed against Juve…well everyone plays like shit when Mandzukic tracks them down like mincemeat.
Great assist, and better goal.
Reports of Mandzukic’s demise have been greatly exaggerated too. Just saying.
It isn’t being a homer, when you state facts about our Wirld Class players.
This result just shows how strong Juve is.
Rakitic had an assist and a goal. Why he can’t do that with the Vatreni? Who knows?
Faux…no idea but I call them Anglo Saxon’s!
Fuuuuuuuuuck
@Poglavnik,Slavonac and everybody in Canada:
What is the term you use for someone of Anglo/Irish descent?
Fucking refs destroyed a good game…Barca is average without Messi!
lmao, now this is entertainment, Livaja get subbed in the 83rd min and less than 2 mins later like a madman he slide tackles a guy from behind and gets a straight red. lol
so Barcelona will get best chance to win all title by…
Rakitic Halilovic
Pique = out
HALA MADRID
As incredible as Messi is, he has a whole system built around him and his skill set.
He typically gets the ball 20-30 meters from goal. The whole team works their socks off to make this happen.
Most players don’t have that luxury.
@ Faux
Casual fans watch the World Cup, especially big countries in the knock out rounds.
Average fan watches semi-finals/finals of Champions League.
Avid fans watch the big clubs in the top 5 leagues of Europe as well as the Euros.
At present we are building a critical mass of nogometaši in all top teams in the top leagues.
We continue our CL dominance and make a run in 2018 then we will back to our ’98 level as a country.
From thiis platform then there is a possibility for one our dynamic players to breakthrough?
The conversation is good one as we have to learn how to produce soccer super stars as well as world class footballers.
El Classico having 3 of our boys in the mix is another plus.
“If you build it, he will come …”
A lot of players dribble like Messi, few are successful dribbles as Messi
Didn’t watch, but I don’t need to…Perisic gets the cross off with more ease than almost anyone out there.
Halilovic dribbles like Messi, but its a long shot that he has a meteoric rise.
He is left footed, has excellent touch, can shoot off the dribble and can cover tons of ground very quickly.
Pulisic is so marketable because
1.US soccer is shit
2. He is young and good
3. The US is a huge market. 300+M people with a huge economy
If he chose to play for Croatia, nobody would give a fuck
Soccer nerds know about Croatia not so much for the casual fan.
We would need a Ronaldo or Messi level player to be a commercial draw.
Argentina has strikers coming out of the ying yang that aren’t even that popular despite their quality.
@ BZ
He was electric today on the left wing.
@ Faux
We need to produce a marketing Super Star.
A Marko Pjaca type baller who can move the meter.
Kovačić may have a chance ?
Perišić if he makes a big move to a glamour club?
I feel a deep run in 2018 would put us back in the elite category.
Croatian tourism is growing exponentially.
More people know about Croatian footballers then ever.
Our boys are being represented by Balkan zemljaci who do not understand world marketing.
Ironic how Pulisic will become a marketing icon, balling out for a top Euro Club while being the USMNT golden child.
I remember when the Cynical Hrvati said it couldn’t be done.
Uvijek Vjerni
Probably, even tho last week I saw a china man on my campus wearing one of our kits and an American “because he likes that design”
We’re being colonized
Hey moron, there are only 2 world class player in EPL . .. Ibrahimovic and Hazard. And I believe they would make FIFA 100 later in 2100 (FIFA century). I think if both were born in Croatia the list won’t mention them, instead Modric like Suker did! We would say Hazard like Boban at least.
@Idemo- that is funny. do you think Nike knocked off Ziva b/c his jock sniffing narrative was hurting the bottom line?
Corluka likely out for Iceland. This might open the door for a hungry Hrvat! Who wants it? Mitrovic? Jedvaj? Simunovic?
I think I once read that our kit sales hardly break even for Nike and tbat they even lose out for sponsoring us, I could be wrong.
For sure with EA sports tho
@Faux Cro- spot on about no commercial value. It is kinda like running a Croatian website. It would be more lucrative if Ante switched the name of this site to AnyCountryOtherThanCroatiaSports.com
@SoulChamp-
Perisic is World Class, but man, lately he has been missing some sitters. Didn’t watch today’s game.
Get Perisic on an EPL team with a World Class tap in artist, and watch how the English will fall in love with him.
@ Cigan
That whole Strinic fiasco has been a disappointment.
Sranjic getting the nod over him was wack.
Then he has a fallout.
Agreed he is our best LB.
I just remember the Vikings maurading down our left flank all match. In Rejkavik they will be even tougher.
The Balkan BS within HNS still skews the squad selection.
I will check out the Napoli match to see how he looks and if Rog goes beast mode in the middle.
There is absolute zero commercial benefit from having a Croat on a team.
If a Croat is playing at a top club you can guarantee it is because they belong there.
Modric is not going to sell more shirts than even a lesser player from a larger nation.
I think your missing the fact that the other semi final is Bayern and Dortmund, that door is closed
If Frankfurt win the cup semi final tie midweek… That door to Europe looks good
Fio vs. Inter 5-4 What a game!
@ Soul Champ
IMO, Milic is only slightly better at defending than Pivaric, but offensively Pivaric doesn’t even come close to Milic’s crossing ability. However, I believe Strinic is the best LB for the national team. The past 2 games strinic started and went the distance for Napoli. And tomorrow we’ll see if he starts against Sassuolo.
but Napoli is a huge club and currently sits in third place. Ghoulam the guy who is the starting LB for Napoli, he has huge potential and is about 4 years younger than Strinic. And he is linked with Atletico, Tottenham, Chelsea, Man U, PSG, etc. Probably why Strinic has been playing more lately because they’re about to sell Ghoulam. To put it into perspective the way you guys rave about Vrsaljko, is the way others acclaim Ghuolam. Just because Strinic doesnt play every game at Napoli doesn’t mean he isn’t the best option for the National team. tbh Pivaric couldn’t even get on the reserves list at Napoli.
@ Idemo
Inter have been disorganized for some time.
Now with big money from China they may be on the up swing.
You think Perišić is World Class?
Interesting, with or without him they never had a chance for Europe
@ BZ
What Mario did to Ivan was Cro on Cro Crime!
MANventus is different level of competitor.
God bless Allegri for realizing he had to get him the 11 no matter what.
Perišić needs to take his WORLD CLASS winger Self to a MEGA club.
He is at his peak right now and needs to play with a squad that can compete for trophies.
What leadership does Icardi bring to Inter ?
@ Svima
Is Pivaric better than Hrvoje Milic ?
Milic looks solid and way better than any other LB options.
@ Idemo
at one point Frankfurt were in 3rd or 4th place in the league, yet they have the 5th lowest transfer market value in the league. They also dealt with a lot of injuries including Meier the Frankfurt legend and Captain. Practically all goals for Frankfurt have gone through Meier, and when he got injured about 3 months ago Frankfurt started going on losing streaks.
Cool video Ante!
Eintracht Frankfurt with their first win in 12 matches!!! Rebic with a goal! Where are the bozos who said they were gonna be in Europe next year lulz
I think the self hating hrvat thing is hilarious, it’s always the 4/5th generation dudes who speak English at home going around pointing the finger
Milic with an assist and Perisic with a goal
Brozovic on the shit list with Inter fans. I am trying not to get too invested with Inter cause Perisic & Brozo on their way out.
Worst part of Rakitic’s performance last week: watching Mandzukic man mark him into oblivion. Wonder if Mandzukic is a self hating Croat, because he sure liked making Rakitic look bad.
typical… Rijeka draw Istra in Pula 1-1
Fiorentina vs. Inter
Milic and Badelj are starting for Fiorentina and Perisic for Inter. Kalinic got a straight red card last week in the 90th min vs Empoli so hes out. Brozovic only started once in the past 7 games for inter.
they’ll drop some points and I bet that last matchday will decide the title.
@ Maminjo
that doesn’t mean dick… Rijeka have pissed away chances for titles in the past. I mean, they just took a stupid handball in Pula vs. Istra, 1-1 now.
Looks like Hajduk just won the HNL’s El Clásico, and screwed over Dinamo for winning the title this year.
If Rijeka pulls of the win today over Istra, that’s a 7 point lead in first place with 7 games left to play.
The HNL finally gets a new champ after 12 years, lol.
yeah i might watch some of those u17 games if theyre ever on at decent times, hope we do well but not a big deal obviously, knew we were hosting tho
Rakitic will follow the $$$$
If the club want him gone, he will go to wherever will meet his wage demands.
I hope its not United or City.
Bayern would be perfect for him. He can replace Alonso in a heartbeat.
maestro Rakitic is the 4th influence player at Barcelona to say the least. I would recall his deficiency come from Pique whose technique merely pushing players and reckless tackle. Pique such a junk, and if I do manage Barcelona, I will overcast him right away.
https://www.facebook.com/U17EuroCroatia/videos/1211451402299560/
We are hosting the U17-Euros!
Top 5 finish and you qualify for U17 World Cup in India.
Generation FOREVER.
This is where the next Real Modrić will be cultivated.
@ Faux Cro
It is tedious to see Rakitic for Barca these days. He is asked to do what he physically can’t do, running box to box and covering for the subpar performance of many of his teammates. He is deployed in a system where he does all the work and gets blamed for all the shortcomings of others.
Love to see him make a move where he can write another chapter in his career.
He can play any midefied position but needs a system and speed talent around him to show his quality.
He can still shoot and score, has range passing, strong tackler and can take a little open space from time to time.
There are so many clubs with ambition who lack quality in the midfield.
The problem is his wife is Spanish and he loves living in Spain.
Maybe new Barca coach has different ideas ?
Which may be better or worse for Rakitic ?
This is where being Croatian is a challenge.
Usually longevity is supported by a club in your home country.
He will probably retire from NT soon anyway to save his legs a bit. Maybe after 2018 World Cup?
I always liked his qualities but Luka Modrić is the straw that stirs the drink and he does not offer not compliment to him. And we have stable full of young studs that potentially can further support Luka’s captaincy.