Rijeka fell short of the Champions League group stage after their duel with Olympiakos, but were given a fortunate draw in Europa League. The Croatian champions were paired with AC Milan, AEK Athens and Rapid Wien in group stage. The top-2 clubs will make the Round of 32 knockout stage in February.
And although AC Milan is primed to top the group, second place is wide open. But Rijeka needs to win their home games against AEK and Rapid Wien to prove themselves.
They didn’t do that Thursday night in Croatia. Rijeka were able to equalize the game at 1-1 in the 29th minute through a Josip Ellen volley off a corner but would concede the game winner in the 62nd to the most Greek name ever (Lazaros Christodoulopoulos) from a free kick to lose 2-1 at home. Not the best start for Rijeka but at least they showed fight in them. Both matches against Rapid Wien will be critical.
Manager Matjaž Kek was under a bit of scrutiny as he subbed out arguably his best player Mario Gavranović in the 59th minute of play for tactical reasons. AEK fielded former Hajduk Split youth player Marko Livaja, who never reached his full potential.
Match Highlights
Get the grb on my forehead
As no one said, get yourself a gym pass and a few tatts
yaaaaa I failed math yaaaa good one wohoooo
@idemo
You failed math. 🙂
Dude as someone said lift weights and find yourself a girl. Stop playing with yourself. 🙂
And the whole world laughs at you while you collect a check the economics of UCL is soooo deep and third eye
Perugia,
I highly doubt they have made it to Champions League using domestic players…which was my point at the time. How does that look…the better paid imports help get you there and then you switch rosters?
@Slavonac from Canada
“So since Idemo is saying “Keeping youth is going to be tougher and tougher”…which I agree with. why has Dinamo always been criticized for bringing in foreigners to try and be competitive? with that said, they’ve had the best youth players in Croatia for at least a decade.”
The young players do leave to early in my opinion, but of course big clubs see their potential and the young player gets sold, that leaves teams like Dinamo having to buy foreigners that are only good enough for the shitty Croatian league.
That’s the reason I don’t watch the shitty Croatian league.
I’d like to see the 3 foreigner rule introduced into the Croatian league.
Young Italian boy grows up dreaming of playing Serie A, young Croatian boy grows up dreaming of playing Serie A. Often happens that the young Croatian boy has represented the NT before he achieves his dream.
“I’ve had battles with people on here because of the very topic. many, if not most have said they’d rather see Dinamo lose with domestic players rather than play with foreign players…anyone remember those comments?”
Yes I do remember them, I also remember it was Ante B who said it, and he is a Dinamo fan. I always understood that what Ante B was saying was that he would rather watch the Croatian youth for a little longer than foreigners that are only good enough for shitty Croatian league.
Some people prefer watching the foreigners. I’d rather watch Croatians playing.
“Lets put the shoe on the other foot! is Hajduk gonna be criticized as much as Dinamo was for using foreigners…and then failing to qualify for Europa League? are we going to say they should have played their youth cause they lost anyways….like we did with Dinamo? why are many of you quiet about this?”
Why are the Hajduk fans quiet about this? They don’t feel the same way as Ante B did about his beloved Dinamo.
Dinamo has 11 foreigners, Darrick Morris is Croatian, Croatian mother.
“Theoretically I could play for USA, but I don’t think I will. OK, ‘never say never’, but nevertheless Croatia is my homeland,” he said.
* hajdukovci
@Slavonac
They were just mad at the success of Dinamo. Jealousy is what it comes down to. Gotta blame someone so easy to go after Mamic. I said it before if the hajdovaci spent as much time going after Hajduk management maybe that team would be better.
I have to laugh at the fools who say to qualify for CL play is useless. Some people do not understand math and the economics of it.
your last paragraph is your answer.
I mean I think its evident Dinamo are are dissected and put under a microscope more than any other team in the country. and I think its no secret why.
success and mamic
while he is dirty there is a campaign against him and the club falls under the microscope. is that correct? no of course not but it comes with the territory.
im all for bringing in foreigners i.e. Angelo Henriquez types ones that show promise from big clubs and need Loan spells to develope
Gavranovic was a major cout.
without really wanting to get into this conversation, its hard not to…
so since Idemo is saying “Keeping youth is going to be tougher and tougher”…which I agree with. why has Dinamo always been criticized for bringing in foreigners to try and be competitive? with that said, they’ve had the best youth players in Croatia for at least a decade.
I’ve had battles with people on here because of the very topic. many, if not most have said they’d rather see Dinamo lose with domestic players rather than play with foreign players…anyone remember those comments?
in yesterdays luneup, 6 out of 11 players were foreigners…at the exact same time…same week, a year ago yesterday…Dinamo played and lost to Lyon. not only did they lose, but the happy anti-Mamic/anti-Dinamo fans were quick to note that its a total waste of time, qualifying for the Champions League if we are going to lose…and lose with foreigners!
back in August, when Hajduk played their last game in the Europa league qualifiers, they started the game with 5 foreigners…were knocked out of the competition and lost out on making money by qualifying.
lets put the shoe on the other foot! is Hajduk gonna be criticized as much as Dinamo was for using foreigners…and then failing to qualify for Europa League? are we going to say they should have played their youth cause they lost anyways….like we did with Dinamo? why are many of you quiet about this?
were you mad at Dinamo or Mamic…or is it all the same?!
Hajduk has 13/26 foreigners on their squad this year, Rijeka has 13, Dinamo have 12. could it be that we are so hateful about ones successes that we are so blinded at our own similair failures? maybe the fact that Dinamo has been far more successful in every way, over the past 10 years….(in competitions, selling players, qualifying for Europe, developing youth players, club youth program in European tournaments)….has caused more anxiety about your own failures than the negativity about how fucked up Dinamo is!
luckily enough, we saw more Croatian teams playing for more in the Euro League games but now we aren’t so focuses on our own failures…cause the reality is…its easier to point a finger at the best….nobody cares about the team that isn’t in the competition.
comments?
Keeping youth is going to be tougher and tougher
Why you gonna tell a chicken farmers son when a French team comes calling?
League isn’t that weak if our teams are regularly eliminating teams like Eindoven and other Europa League caliber teams on the way to qualification.
Our league was absolute garbage 10 years ago, with unpaid wages, strikes, and top teams being beaten by no name foreign clubs like Shelbourne (or 8-0 by Debrecen).
These things take time.
League is finally stable.
We have four teams that can compete against European clubs now.
New stadiums are (slowly) popping up (ie. Pula, Dugopolje, Rijeka)
Teams are making record money transfers (Pjaca, Vlašić)
It’s going in the right direction,but it will take some more time.
Teams still need more financial comfort in not jumping the gun on selling their youth too early, and actually enjoy the fruits on their youth team’s labour.
Keeping these youngsters a few more years, plus building new stadiums will improve results and game experience for the fans (which will give the club more revenue).
Idemo,
its similar to any business. you make money and you then invest that money…some do it wiser than others. also, how do you attract players into Croatia when the league is weak…the stadiums are run down, they attendance is low, sponsorships are few…
@slavonac
Of course not but this goes back to the whole discussion about collecting UEFA money vs collecting Europa success.
Regarding rankings tough to see AEK win geek league meanwhile Rijeka win HNL
rankings may be important but once the whistle blows, nobody is thinking about that.
@slavonac
Aek is rated 208 whereas Rijeka is at 125 according to the clubs of Europe. They played home on top on they and still lost. I don’t see them doing well and only maybe a third place finish. I was disappointed they could not get the win.
People might crap on dinamo but they have accomplished just by making Champions league on few occasions the past number of years.
…an abysmal record? were they ever expected to compete? isn’t qualifying an accomplishment?
Yeah dinamo do have an abysmal record in champions league (cue someone with the money argument)
I think Rijeka are a glove fit for Europa, so they lost but they weren’t outclassed I don’t think any excuses are necessary AEK might have that much of an expensive team but it DID NOT show. For Rijeka not to put a serious challenge for top 2 I think would be disappointing
While Europe because all about depth at a certain stage Rijeka play a type of quality football to push through
last night I watched the last 35 minutes of the first half of AEK vs Rijeka! I thought Rijeka plays a very attractive style of soccer. the team was united and compact…they close down the middle pretty decent, they move the ball forward and with decent numbers in the attack. they are a real good team with a great amount of technique and overall style of play…
I don’t know enough about Rijeka but I was curious how much their roster cost vs AEK? this morning I checked transfermarket…AEK (32.15 mill Euros) is worth 8.6 mill Euros more than Rijeka (23.55 mill Euros)…AEK stadium has 68,000 seating capacity vs Rijeka’s Rujevica 8,136 seating capacity…and AEK have had some success in Europe, albeit nothing so special.
I’m very proud of Rijeka for fielding a team that displayed a good brand of soccer and I think with a bit more money, they could do quite a bit better…sometimes one or two individuals can make the team a bit more dangerous and my thoughts were that they looked a bit toothless as far as offering great scoring opportunities. they lack a dangerous attacker…just my opinion.
just a reminder to those folks that trashed Dinamo for their crappy record in Champions League last year. we’ve seen Osijek, Rijeka, Hajduk and Dinamo play in competitions for Europe…none of the teams have really done well….but the elephant in the room is that nobody is criticizing this year because they know their team isn’t looking good either!
playing in European competitions isn’t as easy as it looks…even some smaller countries can produce a good squad…but that just means the bigger clubs spend more and produce even better clubs!
Idemo, we don’t seem to be prepared or we just get out played by Mexico. we have a better team…on paper, but we haven’t demonstrated any type of dominance when we’ve played them.
Mexicans genuinely believe they have a better side than us because of Brazil
When we play “big teams” I’m more worried about the reff not giving us a call or giving them a gift more than I am being out played.
Why? Not sure do we have less to lose if we lose to Italy in comparison to Mexico so we just go balls to wall and we play safe against teams that we SHOULD beat
Not worried about that.
I posted our stats in a previous discussion and how we pretty much have a 50% winning percentage against elite teams in competitive matches.
I’m pretty sure we a similar to worse record against the non elite teams. I’d actually welcome the chance to play in a group with two “better” teams.
It’s the Ecuadors, Australias and Mexicos I’m worried about.
@bobby
Let’s get there first
Croatia dropped from 16th to 18th in this month’s FIFA World rankings – and now it does matter.
FIFA announced today that draw for the World Cup will be entirely based on these rankings.
In the past, it ranked only the top 7 teams and the host. The rest of the teams were drawn randomly – with the rule of no other team from your confederation in your group (except Europe, 2 teams maximum)
Assuming Croatia qualifies, we can now be headed for the 3rd pot.
It would guarantee two teams ranked ahead of us in the FIFA rankings in our group, where, in the past, that was not necessarily the case.
and still, stupid cacic will pick players from the crap league
Why is AEK covering their shirt sponsor?
Lost interest in Rijeka after they failed for champions league.
Bad start to Europa league, they will be lucky if they get one win.
Vida and Pivaric both started for Dynamo Kyiv. Kalinic for Milan.
Rijeka down 2-1
Nikola Vlasic with the start for Everton.
They’re getting rocked 3-0 though..
AEK players have black tape covering their shirt sponsor haha
Livaja with the start