January 8, 2022
These diaries last
reported back on the season in Croatia after round 8 in mid-September, when
Dinamo Zagreb, HNK Rijeka and Hajduk Spilt were all level on 16 points, although
Hajduk had played a game more. NK Osijek were two points behind, with HNK
Gorica a further point adrift in 5th. At the bottom, newly promoted NK
Hrvatski Dragovoljac had
started to pick up points so that only 4 points separated the bottom 4 four sides.
Round 20 was completed
on December 19th, with the league scheduled to resume on January 28th.
All sides have played 20 matches, except for Hajduk and Dinamo, whose match in
September was postponed due European commitments, and a date has still to be found
for it to be played.
After many twists and
turns, the table at the end of year still showed three sides to be level on
points, with Dinamo and Rijeka now joined by Osijek on 40 points, albeit Dinamo
had played a game less. Hajduk lay 5 points adrift, but a win in their catch-up
game at home to Dinamo would put them back in the mix. At the bottom, NK
Hrvatski Dragovoljac’s form deserted them, to be cut-off 11 points from their
nearest rival and staring relegation in the face.
With the Hadjuk vs Dinamo match in round 9
postponed, the main action was Dragovoljac taking a 2-0 lead at home to Rijeka,
but the title contenders came back to salvage a point. Osijek scored two late
goals to come from behind to beat Gorica 3-2 and move clear at the top of
table.
The top 4 all won in round 10, with the most
dramatic game being between Gorica and Rijeka, where Gorica looked to have grabbed
a 3-3 draw in the final minute, but Pavicic scored in added on time to give
Rijeka the points.
Round 11 saw Osijek and Hajduk fight out a 1-1
draw, whilst Dinamo hammered Dragovoljac 8-0. Rijeka won the first set at Istra
6-3.
Round 12 saw the return meeting between Rijeka and
Dinamo, and again Rijeka surged into a 3-0 lead only for Dinamo to fight back in
the second half for another 3-3 draw. Elsewhere, Hajduk slumped to a 0-2 loss
at Sibernik whilst Osijek’s 2-0 win at Slaven Belupo saw them move level with
Rijeka at the top, albeit Dinamo had two games in hand.
Round 13 saw Dinamo surprising held at home by
Istra, needing a late headed equaliser to earn a point, whilst Hadjuk lost
further ground with a 0-0 draw at home to a stubborn Gorica. Wins for Osijek and Rijeka
saw them pull a little further clear at the top.
Round 14 saw the match between Rijeka and Osijek postponed
due to Covid in the Osijek camp. Dinamo won in thick fog at Gorica to move back
to joint top but with one less match played, whilst Hadjuk’s loss to Slaven saw
them fall to 7 points off the lead and the sacking of Swedish coach Jens
Gustafsson, which was shame if only because his post match interviews were in
English !
Round 15 amazingly saw Dinamo lose the Zagreb
derby, Lokomotiva winning 1-0 at home, although after falling behind in the 8th
minute Dinamo missed penalty and squandered several other chances. Lokomotiva
moved to joint 5th with Gorica, and with the other tops sides all
winning Rijeka and Osijek remained joint top but Dinamo were now 3 points
behind with a game in hand.
Round 16 saw more drama as Dinamo needed a goal 10
minutes from time,from Petkovic’s impressive header, to prevent Osijek from
winning in the Maksimir, and Hadjuk scored two goals in the closing stages to
stun Rijeka for a 3-2 away win, with ex-Brighton forward Jan Mlakar grabbing
the winner in the 90th minute with a brave close range header.
Osijek now led the table ahead of Rijeka by one point, with Dinamo 4 points
behind .
The top 4 all won in Round 17 but moving into December, round 18 saw improving Hadjuk sensationally turn-over Dinamo 2-0 in Zagreb thanks to an outstandingly skilful finish from Livaja, who then set-up an easy finish for Sahiti in added on time to send the massed ranks of travelling supporters home happy.
This came after Dinamo had crashed out of the
Croatian Cup in mid-week in a 1-3 home loss to Rijeka, which led to the
resignation of coach Damir Krznar. Meanwhile, Osijek hung on grimly for a 1-1
draw at Gorica after Kleinheisler was shown a second yellow card early in the
second half. Rijeka took over the leadership with a 4-1 home win over Dragovoljac,
thanks to a hat-trick from Robert Muric, to head Osijek by 1 point with Dinamo
now 5 points behind with a game in hand.
Rijeka and Osijek played their postponed match from
round 14 in mid-week and drew 0-0 in a cagey encounter to extend the gap
between them and Dinamo, but Rijeka’s time at the top only lasted one week at
they then fell 1-2 at home to Gorica in round 19 after Prince Ampem saw red in
the first half for two yellow cards. For Gorica, Lovric made a welcome return
to scoring lists with a trademark 20 yard plus effort. Osijek moved back to the
top following their 3-1 home win over Sibernik. Dinamo also won to stay in
touch, but Hadjuk lost ground again with a 3-3 draw at Lokomotiva, despite two
more goals from Mlakar, although these were cancelled out by fabulous own goals
by Elez and Katic !
Dinamo played and won one of their games in
hand, at Istra, and with another comfortable win at home to Dragovoljac they
moved back to joint top as Osijek were held to goalless draw at Hajduk in front
of 30,524, the highest attendance of the season. Osijek dominated and missed a
penalty, Bohar’s twice taken penalty was superbly tipped onto the bar by Aston
Villa loanee keeper Kalinic after Bohar’s first attempt had been chalked off
for encroachment. Hajduk nearly stole the win near the end but Livaja’s shot
from close range smacked the post.
With Ivana Martincic refereeing three matches in
1.HNL, Croatia became the fifth country in Europe to have matches in its top
division controlled by a woman, after France, Ukraine, Wales and Czech
Republic. Martincic also went onto referee the Germany vs Liechtenstein World
Cup qualifier in November.
Club by Club Summary
A more detailed review of each club can be found in
the preview to this season.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/07/preview-croatia-1hnl-202122-season.html
Here are some comments on how the season has panned
out so far for each side.
GNK Dinamo Zagreb have
won the last 4 titles but have a real fight on their hands this season. They
have won only one match out of 5 against the other top 4 sides ( 2-0 at Osijek
), and twice found themselves 0-3 down to Rijeka before commendably fighting
back to claim 3-3 draws. They also drew at Osijek but lost at home to Hajduk.
They have struggled at times to overcome sides in
bottom five, losing to Slaven Belupo 0-2 at home on the opening day and
Lokomotiva 0-1 away, as well as being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Istra.
Three key players left the club early in the
season, with Swiss International striker Mario Gavranovic joining Kayserispor,
midfielder Lavro Majer joined Rennes, and Kosovan winger Liram Kastrati joined
Legia Warsaw. Dinamo appear to have not adequately replaced them. Croatian
internationals Mislav Orsic and Bruno Petkovic are the top scorers with 5
goals.
NK Osijek have lost only twice so far, at home to Dinamo and
surprisingly at Istra, both 0-2, but are currently on an unbeaten run of 13
games. At home they have a 7-2-1 record, and 4-5-1 away. Against the other top
4 sides they have a 2-3-1 record, but been held to draws at Lokomotiva &
Gorica and at home to Slaven. Winger Ivan Frolic is their top scorer with 4
goals, and 5 players have scored 3 times.
HNK Rijeka have disappointingly lost three times at home,
including upsets by Lokomotiva and Gorica ( both 1-2 ) and also to Hajduk ( 2-3
). In return they won at Hajduk ( 2-1 ) to have a 1-3-2 record against the top
4, having also lost 0-1 at Osijek. Swiss International Josip Drmic, on loan
from Norwich, is the top scorer in the division with 14 goals, with ex-Ajax
midfielder Robert Muric contributing 7 times.
HNK Hajduk Split’s inconsistency has let them down, but they are
currently unbeaten in their last 6 matches. They have a 2-2-2 record against
the other contenders, winning at both Dinamo and Rijeka, both lost at home to
Osijek and Rijeka.
Outstanding midfielder Marko Livaja, back with Hajduk after signing from AEK Athens, has found the net 13 times, with Jan Mlakar on 6. Centre-back Nikola Katic has joined on loan from Glasgow Rangers. After Jens Gustafsson was sacked as coach, Hajduk appointed Lithuanian Valdas Dambrauskas, who had previously been coach at Bulgarian champions Ludogorets and Gorica in Croatia, but interestingly started his managerial career at Kingsbury London Tigers in the Spartan South Midlands League whilst studying in London !
HNK Gorica are the best of the rest in 5th place.
They have an impressive 6-1-3 away record but have been let down by their home
form, where they have won only twice. Before the break they had been on a run
of 5 consecutive draws, which was ended with a 2-3 home defeat to Sibernik.
Mercurial winger Kristijan Lovric has scored 7 goals
NK Lokomotiva Zagreb have been strong opponents in their own stadium, with
a 4-4-2 record, beating Dinamo and drawing with Hajduk ( twice ) and Osijek.
They have also won at Rijeka. Hopes were high of a successful season after
their first three matches were won, but only one point was taken from the next
5 matches. They went into the winter break with three draws and two losses in
their last 5 matches. Marko Dabro has scored 8 goals.
HNK Sibenik are currently on a decent run with a 2-2-3 record in
their last 7 matches. The highlights of their season are probably the wins over
Hajduk and Gorica. Marin Jakolis, on a
season’s loan from Hajduk and with experience of playing in Belgium with
Moskroen and Virton, has scored 10 goals, with Ivan Delic on 6. Spanish coach
Mario Rosas was sacked on January 5th.
NK Slaven Belupo have experienced the highs of winning at Dinamo,
beating Hajduk and drawing at Osijek. They have also won two of their last
three matches. On the other hand, they are the only side to have lost to
Dragovoljac. Veteran Ivan Krstanovic is their top scorer with 6 goals
NK Istra 1961 have lost 6 of their last 7 matches, with the only
points in this run coming from a victory of Dragovoljac. Their notable
performances were the 2-0 home win over Osijek, a 1-1 draw at Dinamo and a 1-1
draw at Gorica. They have won 4 times at home, but also lost 6 home matches ! Hassane
Bande, on loan from Ajax has scored 6 times, the same number as Dion Beljo.
NK Hrvatski
Dragovoljac are rock
bottom, having taken only 2 points from their last 11 games. At home they have
managed to draw with Lokomotiva, Rijeka and Sibenik, and away from home won at
Slaven Belupo and drew at Gorica. Majstorovic and Petkovic have scored three
time.
Attendances
Hajduk are by far and
away the best supported side in the country, with an average home crowd of
9,868. In addition to the 30,524 who saw their game against Osijek, they had 4
of the 6 highest attendances, with the other two matches being their games at
Dinamo Zagreb, which attracted 9,914, and Rijeka, which drew 6,578. Dinamo’s
visit to Rijeka drew an audience of 6,248.
Rijeka had the second
best average with 3,031, followed by Dinamo with 2,287 then Osijek with
1,789. Drogovoljac had the lowest
average with 232, whilst the average for the league was 2,015.
Croatian Cup
The Quarter Finals of
the Croatia FA Cup were played on December 1st with the following
results
Dinamo Zagreb 1-3
Rijeka
Osijek 0-0 Slaven
Belupo ( Osijek won on penalties )
Lokomotiva Zagreb 3-6
Hajduk Split
Gorica 2-2 Istra (
Gorica won on penalties, after a 96th minute equalizer from Lovric,
the usual shot for 20+ yards )
The semi-finals are
scheduled to be played on March 2nd :
Rijeka vs Osijek
Hajduk vs Gorica
Europa League
After the last review
by these diaries, Dinamo Zagreb were the only surviving Croatian side in
European Competition, having reached the group stages of the Europa League.
They started poorly, being outclassed at home by West Ham United ( 0-2 ) in front
of a crowd of 12,344, before bouncing back to trounce Genk 3-0 in Belgium. A
1-2 set back to Rapid Wien in Austria looked to be major blow to their
hopes of qualifying from the group, but they gained revenge over Rapid with a
3-1 win at home, and a 1-1 draw at home to Genk left qualification in their own
hands, with a point needed from the final game at West Ham, who had already secured
qualification to the knock-out stages. As it happened, West Ham fielded a side
that could best be described as “experimental”, and a fabulous 4th minute strike from Orsic secured Dinamo’s progression and rendered Genk’s defeat in
their final game with Rapid as academic.
Dinamo now face Sevilla in the last 32, with the first leg in Spain on February 17th, with the return match in Zagreb a week later.
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