The Boys in White and Blue defeat Dinamo after 6 years at their home stadium
There is an end to every story, even to the epic undefeatability of NK Dinamo at Maksimir. Osijek, after 16 full years, destroyed the national champion at their own home and continues their streak this season. This is NK Osijek’s 5th consecutive victory outside of Gradski Vrt and it is clear that this generation of players are making history with maximum efficiency. No one could have dreamed of this and it is logical, of course, that it is all to the satisfaction of the fans and the coach, Zoran Zekic, who said that he is satisfied, especially with the first half. “The players did what they could and what I asked of them, the deal being to reinforce the midfield and to pressure their backline and try to go behind Stojanovic and Sosa at the flanks. We did good,” he said, “controlling the ball and creating two or three good opportunities. If we had been a bit more calm, we could have produced a good score out of them. Dinamo had possession, which was expected, but we hadn’t done any greater mistakes that would have resulted in a setback, except for Hodzic’s chance when he struck the post. I congratulate my boys and Dinamo’s streak is finally over. I am especially thankful to our fans who came to support us in great number”.
No time to celebrate, for the championship is long
Even though his team realized a huge win and one of the more important victories in the CNL ever, Osijek’s “skipper” didn’t seem all that euphoric and chose his words at the press conference carefully: “This is of course a truly succulent and important win, but there’s no hysteria because there are many games ahead of us in the Championship. Tomorrow’s a new day and we have training and preparations to do for a truly difficult game against Split on Sunday. Out home record is truly stellar and it’s been unexpected before we started off the season, but we need to keep moving seriously and at maximum effort, winning whenever possible.
Referee Zebec sent Zekic in the second half home packing after presumed offside that set NK Osijek back. “I don’t know why I was sent off. The only thing I had said to the referee was to equalize the criteria. I hadn’t insulted him, nor had I done anything exclusion-worthy. I really don’t get it, can’t a coach say what he has to say in front of the bench? You saw, at the European Championship, what Conte does and how he jumps around and nothing was said. Here, coaches get easily benched” Zekic concluded.
Dinamo’s players weren’t helped by talks, either
On the other side, Dinamo’s coach Zlatko Kranjcar wasn’t all too happy with the game, even less so with Saturday’s game: “Surely the loss wasn’t all that welcome and I think that we will use it wisely, psychologically speaking. On the game itself, I can say that the early goal that Osijek scored won’t faze us. Ball possession was good for us and we had good chances in both halves, but I do not justify the loss. We shouldn’t have suffered it. I talked to the boys before the game and we had a general club meeting where warnings were touted about this very scenario that transpired in the end. It’s sport and it tends to be unpredictable. It’s a a shame that our streak ended after, how I heard, 6 years being undisputed at home, at Maksimir. What else to say than t ofocus on the Champion’s League game this Wednesday against Lyon who has been, be it consciously or subconsciously, on the minds of our players despite this loss” said Kranjcar.
