It was a rough weekend for the away teams, who collectively scored zero goals in any match.
Dinamo Zagreb hosted Cibalia and kept them winless on Saturday morning, handing them a 3-0 shutout. Angelo Henriquez ended a six-month goal drought, finally finding the back of the net in the 42nd minute against the last place team. The former Manchester United man also appeared in Dinamo’s 1-0 loss to Sevilla last week, but made little impact during his time on the field.
The other two goals came from El Hilel Arbi Soudani who opened the scoring in the 34th minute and Mario Šitum in the 76th minute.
Dinamo has advanced to second place in the league, but remain six point behind Rijeka.
Hajduk Split was held to a scoreless draw at Aldro Drosina by NK Istra 1961. The struggling Istra side has been on the upswing under the reign of Goran Tomić, recording a win and two draws in the last five matches. Hajduk will be frustrated with dropping two points, and will spend the week in fourth place behind Osiejk.
Hajduk was unable to score a goal but added to their now seven-match unbeaten run, having allowed only three goals in those seven games.
Rijeka remain on top after the weekend and added three more points to their total with a 1-0 on Sunday against Inter Zaprešić at Rujevica.
Franko Andrijašević scored the game’s lone goal in the 67th minute to ensure his team remained the only team yet to lose in the season. With 11 wins, two draws and no losses leave Rijeka on top of the table, six points ahead of Dinamo Zagreb.
Rijeka has also been enjoying a 26-match unbeaten streak, beginning in February of 2016. Rijeka’s last loss was against Dinamo on February 21. Their last league-loss before that? 4-0 against Dinamo on May 29 of 2015.
NK Osijek continue to impress. The newly-surging club sits in third place after a 1-0 victory over NK Lokomotiva in the Garden City.
Antonio Perošević scored the only goal in the 57th minute to keep his team in the running for the championship. Though unlikely, Osijek is keeping both Dinamo and Rijeka on their toes in their quest for the top of the table.
The RNK Split faithful, no matter how few there are, rejoiced Friday evening. After 13 matches, they finally had a reason to cheer. Split won their first match of the season. And soundly too. Split defeated the visiting Slaven Belupo 3-0.
All three goals came from three new Split players who have never scored for the Croatian club before.
Spit took the three points and leapfrogged HNK Cibalia to get out of the last-place spot.
– 28.10.1950. Osnovana je Torcida. Najstarija europska navijačka skupina osnovana je u Zagrebu na današnji dan prije 66 godina.
SRETAN RODENDAN TORCIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Naprid Bili
Love to see Osijek win.
It would be nice to see Osijek finish top-3 like they used to do in the past.
Hvala Colin,
It would be great for our Croatian football if Rijeka finishes first this season.