A fantastic season played by Osijek! First and foremost, the team fought their way into Europe after 5 years on the grounds of placing high in the state championship, which was unheard of since 2000/2001. Osijek made it to Europe in 2011/2012, but on the grounds of placing in the Croatian Cup finals when Osijek was defeated by Dinamo, then-champion. Besides that, the European scene secured 8 rounds pre-Championship end, so that the endgame could be played quite peacefully. During the past 10 months, Osijek’s players made history, ended their bad luck streaks and set new records. They realized a 5-win streak while away (against Istra, Inter, Lokomotiva, Slaven Belupo and Dinamo), adding a few other victories, arriving at a figure of 9 wins while away, which is single-handedly the best performance outside of Gradski Vrt during First League competition.
The end of uncomfortable tradition
The bad luck streak at Koprivnica was finally ended. Last year, Osijek celebrated after 9 years of “fasting” at Podravina. Later in the season, Osijek won on the “Farmaceut” stadium and confirmed that Koprivnica’s field is cursed no more. Not long after, Zekic’s team destroyed Dinamo in Maksimir after 16 long years. Knezevic’s goal broke Dinamo’s 104-win streak in Maksimir stadium that lasted for 6 years. Furthermore, Lokomotiva was defeated in Gradski Vrt, which was unheard of up until that point. In Autumn, last year, “Lokosi” were defeated after 7 years, which was worth celebrating. Osijek repeated that in the latter part of the season, leaving the bad luck behind.
Points galore!
This isn’t all. Barisic and co. won seven times at home, which was absolutely unheard of for decades. The casualties were Hajduk, Cibalia, Split, Istra, Inter, Lokomotiva and Slaven Belupo, after which Kohorta celebrated with the players. Besides that, NK Osijek earned 66 pts in the last Championship and beat their 59 pts record during a season.
One more noteworthy thing is the fact that 5 players from NK Osijek are on the national A-team under the wing of Ante Cacic. Borna Barisic, Nikola Matas, Mateo Barac, Antonio Perosevic and Mile Skoric being the players who went to China for the Winter Tournament and to Los Angeles, too. Many achievements in only 10 months – congratulations Osijek!
