Two fantastic matches are upon us as Luka Modrić and Real Madrid will have their hands full with Bayern Munich while three Croatians will go at it in the Barcelona v. Juventus matchup.
Who would you like to see progress? And why?
Croatian supporters have been spoiled the past half decade when it comes to Champions League. A Croatian international has lifted the Champions League trophy four years in a row, and it looks promising for another one to do it in 2017.
Mario Mandžukić got the party started in 2013 with Bayern Munich. Luka Modrić helped Real Madrid get their record 10th Cup in 2014. It was then Ivan Rakitić and Barcelona in 2015 before Modrić and Mateo Kovačić were crowned in 2016 with Real Madrid for the 11th time.
And this year is no exception. The Round of 16 concluded Wednesday night and the big surprise was Monaco and Croatian goalie Danijel Subašić overturning a 5-3 first leg loss to Manchester City, winning 3-1 in Monaco to be joining the European giants in this Friday’s quarterfinal draw.
Luka Modrić, Mateo Kovačić and Real Madrid are one of the other seven clubs. Ivan Rakitić and Barcelona had to endure the most epic 10-minute ending to a CL game to get to this point. Mario Mandžukić and Marko Pjaca look to make some noise with Juventus, as the Italian champions have flown under the radar thus far. Šime Vrsaljko is getting starts at the backline regularly for Atletico Madrid, both in CL and La Liga.
Question is: who do you want to see matched up against each other in the quarters and what is your dream final?
Give me Real Madrid versus Juventus on June 3rd in Cardiff. Croatians (4) in the Champions League Final!
Bolje je izgubiti s hrvatskom nego pobijediti sa strancima
@ Jarac
Agree with you 100%.
@croatianperson
Requirement to play on the repka, you bleed the checkers…..srce vatreno….if you don’t understand that then shouldn’t be on the repka…..I don’t care if you are german but lived in cro your whole life, half cro half serb, or half american/half cro……..
by default alot of people who aren’t significantly into croatian culture won’t make the cut….
Pulisic is getting bad advice from somebody apparently either from agent or parents. Should be playi g for us at some point. Not America. Poor decision as far as I’m concerned. Who cares. Rog pjaca etc all better.
No problem at all with Nikola Tavares playing for Croatia if it happens down the track.
Eduardo, I would’ve preferred it if he didn’t play for Croatia, simply because he didn’t have a Croatian parent.
I would prefer it if national teams followed the Athletic Bilbao model! For example, the player Aymeric Laporte, born in Agen, France, plays for Bilbao because he had Basque great-grandparents, if he didn’t have a connection to the Basque region he would not be playing for Bilbao, but because he has got that connection, it doesn’t matter where he was born.
I wouldn’t want a kid born in Croatia of Serbian parents playing for Croatia, even if the kid played like Messi.
T.o Cro whats happening brother
re Pulisic – we tried to get him on our men’s team and got him his EU papers which he wanted so he could play in Europe and not count as a non EU player. I could be wrong but each league has rules on how many non EU players you can have on the match sheet, starting 11 etc. Typically if you’re a non EU/foreign player, you are a big money signing. So if you’re 17 and have parents from Europe it is best to either have EU papers or get them done ASAP so you it’s easier to transfer to a bigger club rather than being overlooked because they don’t want to waste a foreign spot on you.
He got his papers, signed with Dortmund, kept playing with the US national team as he did in his youth.
His talent is unquestionable, as T.O Cro mentioned, he’s been very involved with Dortmund the last while and is producing. Would have been nice for him to play for us but I don’t think you can make someone love a country.
Questions for CS readers (I know we have discussed this before) Would you ever consider a partial Croat, foreign born Croat, ethnically NOT Croatian but has Cro citizenship (NOT sped up, has lived in Cro the allotted time) for our NT or any other sort of combination, if they couldn’t make their home country? or if they knew they had a better chance making Cro? What if they are extremely good?
Do you feel they would play with less passion and it’s a job for them for more exposure in International tournaments to play for bigger clubs?
Me personally – NO unless we’re talking world class players that can single-handedly change a game. Anomalies
Were you guys OK with Eduardo playing on the NT? He did come when he was a teen.
If the fan was actually going to hit the ref with the metal bar, then shooting him with real bullets probably would have been justified although tragic. If the ref pulled out a gun and shot him I would call it self defense.
The Czech Republic game at euro turned me off our hooligans and there sub culture for life! Bunch of backwards idiots.
Just a question for any gamers out there.
What was the last FIFA game that featured our team?
And not Hrvatska with a bunch of made up names but the actual players.
Got a free PS3 the other day and want to pick up a used copy of FIFA with us in it.
I don’t give a shit what nationality a guy is, if he is a fucking hooligan crack him over the head with a baton….clearly his parents taught him sweet fuck all.
BTW I like the hooligan sub culture.
Did someone suggest shooting Croatians with rubber bullets?
Pure Yugo asshole. Do you guys still think that Croatia will ever be allowed to win a tournament?
Love the flairs and pageantry!
Without it there’d be nothing but nerds on their smart phones.
No one does it (in a civilized manner) like the Germans.
Whilst I don’t believe that Hooligans rule, I do enjoy a nice fireworks display, and this Hooligan weilding an iron bar I also found entertaining! The way I look at it is, the Hooligan gave himself up to be punished to the full extent of the law, no one was harmed and, the game was completed. I don’t know why people are making a big deal about it. If you really think about it, all that this Hooligan has done, is put the referee on notice!
I’m hoping for a Barcelona vs Bayern Munich final!
Goof posting above!
Hooligans rule. You guys are faggotts
Does anyone know anything about this Nikola Tavares? Apparently Cro mom…Portuguese father…playing for us…
Toronto Croatia, I saw some interviews with Pulisic he seems not to care much for the repka…I don’t give a shit about him…good to see you posting again brother!!!
BZ, in answer to your question ..no I’m not new, I joined this site in 2012 ..
And I don’t care when he was discussed, I said hes getting a lot attention now with Borussia Dortmund. Simply Google his name and you’ll see the attention & articles that are being written.
That’s why it is too bad that Croatian-Chilean billionaire was not able to buy the team….would have cleaned it up….I actually do believe it will come, just like all the Jugo boys will get cleaned out of Croatian politics eventually….just way to slow for our North American sensibilities….
@sudi mi
Agree but you know that will never happen.
I means dortmund vs monaco .
quarter final has decided ..
Real Madrid vs Juventus
Monaco vs Barcelona
Atletico Madrid vs Leicester
Monaco vs Bayern Munich
You are right Slavonac, success starts at the top and this is a rudderless ship..how long can you brag about club history when your present is a shit-show?!? Sad, very sad.
P.S. Cops with rubber bullets ringing the field aimed at the “fans” is what is required….I remember the top-notch security at Wembley when we beat the bastard Englezi 3-2….no-one, I repeat no-one would have even thought of causing trouble as they had it nailed down so tight they knew if someone farted. THAT is how you control and weed out the true disgrace of human beings we see on display it seems weekly in the HNL.
@Slavonac and Sudi Mi
The club is a joke. I actually think the players were scared to jump the fan and stop him because the other moron fans would of stormed the field. Pathetic.
in my opinion, Hajduk is and has been in disarray for quite some time and they desperately need some credible leadership to change the face of the entire organization. it’s one thing to talk about the “incredible” fans they have…ok, great…I agree they have great fans, BUT, those fans are behaving like Liberal snowflakes at a womens march against Trump! Not only that, lets look back a short while ago and remember the swastika incident where nobody has been held accountable, lets recall Tudor’s shit show as he quit a few days prior to the re-start of the winter break, lets not even discuss all the financial issues they’ve had and lets not get into the intra-fighting at the club between midgets that couldn’t manage a sock drawer.
It pains me to see a club implode but constantly blame others for their failures.
Pulisic Is a punk ass bitch. Za Don Spremni you dirty Muslims.
The only problem I have with Pulisic is that he went and got a CRO passport so that he could play in Europe, but clearly had no intent of playing for the Repka. I have no problem if he decided to play for USA (he has been called into Bruce Arena’s team for two crucial qualifers coming up), after all he is a third generation Cro-American, but if that is that case don’t use the backdoor to get to Dortmund. Just worng.
@ Hamilton
It can be fixed, the will simply has to be there….if I had been on that field as a player I would have jumped him. Fucking budala. The players should have beat on him and then the cops, right in front of the rest of the balavci.This is why the HNL is a fucking joke.
@Toronto Croatia- you must be new. Pulisic has been discussed for about 2 years now. Some interesting thoughts regarding him. My take is: he was excited to go to a Justin Bieber concert in Germany…tells you all u need to know about the kid.
Its a bit of a stretch but Christian Pulisic ..the 18 yr old who’s getting a lot attention now with Borussia Dortmund .. is American of Croatian descent.
Apparently he was offered to play for the Croatian national team but turned it down and will play for the US.
Dragan Benders’ brother plays for Maryland
@sude mi
Downright embarrassing. Always problems in that stadium.
Love it, agree with Soul Champ, all this experience (has) and will payoff even more for the repka.
Brutal!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/03/15/croatian-soccer-declares-war-on-hooliganism-after-fan-chases-ref-with-metal-bar/?utm_term=.406553f35afd
Yup!
Agreed about pulling for a final with 4 Hrvati.
@ Ante
Real Madrid – Juventus …
Tasty final.
Veterans
Modrić – Mandžukić
Explosive young studs
Mateo – Marko
My heart is in Real Crodrid
But Juve looked prime for CL run.
Happy that Subasic will get two more pressure packed matches to grow as a keeper. Physically he is limited but mentally can grow in confidence.
What a blessing to have all these Hrvati in the #1 league in the world.
5 in a row ?
By the way, every young boy in Croatia is watching there idols and being inspiried to hone their talent and reach for the starts.1
We will be a dominate footballing nation for ever.
10 years ago we were teetering on the abyss of mediocrity and now we are on the precipice of becoming legit world beaters.
U boj …
Plus Dario Šarić and Bogdanović are killing it in the NBA.