Moto utrke – dinamične oklade i fantastične predstave!

    From Friday to Sunday, the 10th round of the Croatian Telekom First Football League, better known as the HNL, will be played. After last weekend some changes happened. Dinamo was sensationally defeated, Hajduk increased its points advantage in the standings, and Rijeka and Osijek were left without a coach. Because of all this, a rather exciting tenth round awaits us with five rather uncertain games.

    Hajduk vs. Dynamo

    Hajduk vs. Dinamo / DarioZg / Shutterstock

     

    Overview of the 9th round of HNL

    NK Osijek hosted Lokomotiv on Friday. The people of Osijek led from the seventh minute with a goal by Mirko Marić, but Lokomotiva scored in the 37th and 88th minutes and achieved a worthy victory. The result was not only the defeat of Osijek, but also the dismissal of the current coach Dina Skender, so the Slavonian first division team is currently looking for a new strategist on the bench.

    The next day, Slaven Belupo beat Gorica at home with a score of 2:0. after an own goal in the 29th minute and a penalty in the 86th, which was used by the experienced rookie Ivan Krstanović. With this victory, Slaven left the fight for survival and, with 10 points won, positioned itself in seventh place in the HNL, two points less than Gorica, which ended the match with only nine players in the field due to two red cards.

    However, the real shock in the first league happened a little later on Saturday when Dinamo visited Varaždin, who at that moment did not have a single win in eight games played. On the other hand, the champion of Croatia arrived in a good mood after an incredible 4:0 victory at the opening of the Champions League group against the Italian Atalanta. In the end, Varaždin celebrated with a 1:0 goal by Cameroonian Jessie Guera Djou, which was also the only shot on goal that Varaždin managed to shoot. Dinamo coach Nenad Bjelica was angry with his players, whom he accused of playing without a motive in the HNL.

    This situation was used by Hajduk on Sunday, which won against Inter with a score of 3:1. They now have three points more than their biggest rival from Zagreb, but the truth is that Dinamo has one more game to play against Rijeka at the end of the half-season. Rijeka just closed the last round of the HNL with an easy victory in Pula against Istria by 3:0, as we announced in our previous review of the HNL. However, many were surprised by the dismissal of Igor Bišćan after this victory. Allegedly, Bišćan decided that before the match , and Slovenian Simon Rožman will be on the bench instead of him from the next round.

    Dinamo hosts Lokomotiva on Friday

    On Friday, from 18:00, Dinamo will host Lokomotiv at the Stadium in Kranjčevićeva Street. It will be an opportunity for Nenad Bjelica’s team to repair the impression after last week’s defeat in Varaždin, but also to make a good prelude before visiting Manchester City on Tuesday in the Champions League groups. The coefficient on Dinamo’s victory is 1.40 in most of the world’s bookmakers, which is a good opportunity, especially if you know about the traditionally good relationship between Lokomotiv and Dinamo.

    Dinamo and Lokomotiva have played 34 games in the HNL so far in their history, and the Blues have as many as 30 wins and only two tied games with the same number of losses. The goal difference is 77:25, clearly in favor of the Croatian champion. One of those tied results was last season when it was 1:1 in Kranjčević, so Dinamo will have to approach this game as seriously as possible if they want to keep pace with Hajduk in the leading position.

    Rijeka in Varaždin, Osijek in Koprivnica

    Saturday afternoon is reserved for Rijeka’s visit to Varaždin against the first league team of the same name. The team from Varaždin is completely satisfied with the victory against Dinamo and they will certainly not give up in advance in this match. They are no longer last in the standings and have a point more than Inter, who are in that position. On the other hand, this will be the league debut of Simon Rožman on the bench of Rijeka, which has one point less than Dinamo and four less than Hajduk and is in third position. The coefficient on the visitors of 1.44 looks realistic at this moment, and Rijeka certainly has the strength to win this 2/2.

    Cohort Osijek / Lario Tus / Shutterstock

     

    Osijek will host Slaven Belup on Saturday from 19:00, where they will look for their first win after three games in which they failed to win. Osijek recorded their last win on August 25 against Hajduk on their home field, and after that they played without goals against Istria, and 2:2 in Gradski vrt with Varaždin until last week’s away defeat against Lokomotivna. They are currently without a coach, and the team is led by Zoran Marchetić. The odds for Osijek to win is 1.90, but you should be careful because Slaven plays traditionally well against Osijek, so in 33 league games in Koprivnica, they have 20 wins, five draws and eight wins with a goal difference of 60:36 in favor of Belup.

    Inter and Gorica play on Sunday

    Perhaps the most uncertain match will be played in Zaprešić on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. between home Inter and visiting Gorica. Both teams were defeated in the last round and it will be interesting to see how they react to these defeats in this round. Inter is at the bottom of the table and has only six points. However, in the round before visiting Hajduk, they beat Slaven Belupo at home with 3:1, which is their only victory so far, with three draws and five defeats. They played five times on their home field and recorded one win and one draw each with a goal difference of 9:7.

    Gorica is sixth in the ranking and has three wins, losses and a draw each with a total goal difference of 11:12. Away from home, they have only one win and three losses with a goal difference of 4:9. Inter still do not have a home win over Gorica. Last season it was 1:3 for the visitors in the first part of the season, and 2:2 in the second half of the season. It is interesting that all five of the previous first league matches between these two clubs ended with both teams scoring at least one goal each, and four of them with three or more goals in total. Therefore, if you bet on this match, and for example the bookmaker 1Xbe t always has a good offer on HNL, we definitely recommend playing more than 2.5 goals per match.

    The round closes Hajduk in Pula

    Hajduk is finally first in the ranking and is successfully holding that position for now. They will close this round when they play away from Istria on Sunday at 19:00. The coefficient of 1.60 indicates that Hajduk has a good chance of winning and remaining at the top of the HNL. Istria is eighth with the same number of points won. The team from Pula is in serious trouble, and they haven’t won since August 3, when they beat Varaždin 3:1 at their Aldo Drosina Stadium. Since then, they have played six more games and recorded only two draws and as many as four defeats.

    These two teams have played 16 HNL matches so far, and Hajduk won 11 times, Istria won three times with two tied results. They played half of those 16 games in Pula, where Hajduk has four wins with two draws and a loss, and the goal difference at the Aldo Drosina Stadium is 13:7 in favor of the Split club. Hajduk will be without the suspended Barry Hamza in this match, while Istra will be missing midfielder Antonio Ivančić.