A weekend of action that saw three red cards handed out across the five games of action in the HNL, league leaders Rijeka leapfrogged Hajduk Split. Here is your Cro football wrap.
Securing a late winning goal to take all three points, Rijeka capitalised on Hajduk’s late draw.
Dinamo Zagreb enjoyed a strong result after the axing of head coach Fabio Cannavaro, narrowly remaining in HNL Championship contention.
Meanwhile, an Aussie-Croat’s electric goalscoring form fires him to the top of the A-League Golden Boot race, as a ‘Vatreni’ icon looks to overturn a Champions League tie miraculously.
Vjesnik’s Jake Holub wraps up the week of national and international through a Croatian lens; covering Aussie-Croats, Croats in Europe and the HNL.
A-League: Super Sega to the top of the charts
Hosting the league-leading Auckland FC at Allianz Stadium, Adrian Segečić stunned the New Zealand-based side with two powerful long-range strikes fired into the top corner within the first 32 minutes of action.
Often restricted to coming off the bench this season for the Sky Blues, the 20-year-old certainly proved that he can impact the game from the start with a stunning performance.
Although often playing on the wing or even in midfield, Segečić now finds himself tied on top of the A-League Men’s goal-scoring charts alongside Archie Goodwin with 12 goals.
While neither was able to score in a 2-0 home win for the Western Sydney Wanderers over Western United, Nicolas Milanović and Noah Botić continue to remain in the Golden Boot race as they both sit on 11 goals.
With Auckland FC dropping points, Steven Ugarković‘s Melbourne City secured an important 3-2 win over Brisbane Roar.
The Citizens find themselves trailing the league’s newcomers by four points with three rounds of action remaining.
Despite disappointingly recording another loss with his side that languishes bottom of the table, 22-year-old Keegan Jelačić impressed for the Roar with his goal and assist.
Putting an end to a disastrous 10-game winless streak, David Zdrilic‘s Perth Glory recorded an emphatic 4-1 over Adelaide United in their final home game of the season – a much-needed result as the Glory aim to avoid the wooden spoon.
Europe: A 0-3 deficit to overcome at the Bernabeu
In the game that shook the football landscape mid-week, Luka Modrić‘s Real Madrid suffered a devastating 0-3 loss to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their Champions League Quarter Final.
Two stunning free kicks from Declan Rice ultimately killed off Real, requiring a big response in their Champions League Quarter Final home leg.
Opting to bench key players Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Modrić in their 1-0 win over Deportivo Alaves overnight, the Royals will be throwing all they have in what is set to be a cracking game at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Seeking out a Champions League spot amid a disappointing campaign, Mateo Kovačić and Joško Gvardiol both started in Manchester City’s 5-2 win over Crystal Palace.
Falling two goals behind to the visitors early on, Kovačić scored the crucial go-ahead goal to help his side claim all three points.
Defeated by Inter Milan 1-2 midweek in their Champions League home leg, Josip Stanišić‘s Bayern Munich were held to a 2-2 with Borussia Dortmund.
The 25-year-old defender played the full 90 minutes and provided an assist in Der Klassiker, establishing himself as a key player for Bayern since returning from injury.
Stanišić will certainly be thankful to his Vatreni teammate Josip Juranović, who started in Union Berlin’s 0-0 draw with Bayern’s title competitors, Bayer Leverkusen.
Remaining in the Bundesliga, Andrej Kramarić took his season’s goal tally to double digits after grabbing a brace in Hoffenheim’s 2-0 win over FSV Mainz 05.
Ante Budimir enjoyed an excellent weekend after scoring and assisting in Osasuna’s 2-1 win over Girona.
Scoring his 19th goal this season in all competitions, the 33-year-old has had a career-best season in front of goals with seven games remaining.
The goals were also flowing for Mario Pašalić in Italy, who scored in Atalanta’s 2-0 win over Bologna.
Here are some other performances from Croats across Europe worth noting:
- Marin Pongračić played the full 90 minutes in Fiorentina’s 2-1 win in the Conference League Quarter Finals over NK Celje, as well as helping his side keep a clean sheet against Parma in Serie A.
- Dion Beljo started in Rapid Wien’s wins over Djurgården in the Conference League and Austria Wien in the Austrian Bundesliga (registering an assist in the latter).
- Duje Ćaleta-Car started in Ligue 1 for the first time since January in Lyon’s 3-1 win over Auxerre.
- Young Westerlo duo Luka Vušković and Matija Frigan both played 90 minutes in a 2-2 draw against Sporting Charleroi, with Frigan scoring his 10th league goal of the campaign.
HNL: Rijeka top the pile in title race frenzy
Trailing Hadjuk Split by two points following Round 28’s action, Rijeka narrowly snuck to the top of the HNL after defeating Varaždin 1-0.
Holding just 37% of possession on home soil, substitute Luka Menalo provided Rijeka’s with a vital 92nd-minute winner.
This was bolstered after Hajduk’s disastrous start against Lokomotiva Zagreb.
Conceding a stunning free-kick to Socceroos fullback Fran Karačić and seeing goalkeeper Ivan Lučić sent off in the 66th minute, a home defeat certainly looked on the cards for Gennaro Gattuso’s side.
In dying moments, substitute Aleksandar Trajkovski spared Hajduk’s blushes and grasped a 1-1 draw.
Meanwhile, Dinamo Zagreb got off to a strong start under caretaker coach Sandro Perković, securing a solid 2-0 win over Osijek.
Attacking midfielder Martin Baturina was a standout, recording an assist and impressive 5 chances created for Dinamo.
With seven league games remaining, Rijeka lead the HNL with 56 points, trailed by Hajduk with 55 points and further along Dinamo with 49 points.
Further down the league, Slaven Belupo defeated Šibenik 2-0, with 19-year-old Andriano Jagušić the standout on the right wing for Slaven.
Meanwhile, Gorica‘s 3-2 win over Istra 1961 now sees bottom-placed Šibenik fall four points behind Gorica in 9th.
Despite being on the losing end to Gorica, 22-year-old Moris Valinčić enjoyed an impressive performance at right-back for Istra, recording a goal and assist.