European football: Dinamo humiliated, while Rijeka fails to capitalize

In football, the 5th and 4th rounds of play in the Europa League and Conference League competitions were played on Thursday night. Two Croatian squads, Dinamo Zagreb and Rijeka were in action and both failed to secure a positive result.

In the fifth round of play in the Europa League football competition, Dinamo Zagreb was hammered by Lille 4:0 in France on Thursday night. Dinamo appeared to get off to a strong start, with forward Mounsef Bakrar scoring a header in the 9th minute of play. However, the goal was disallowed following a highly questionable decision by Scottish referee John Beaton. Beaton assessed that Bakrar had pushed his defender prior to scoring, however, a review of the footage shows that the contact was at best minimal. After that the game quickly descended into a debacle. Midfielder Miha Zajc: “I think we allowed the first two goals too easily. I think they were score on an out and a counter-offensive, we can't allow ourselves these kinds of mistakes at this level of play. We have to sit down and review what we did poorly, fix those mistakes and move forward with a focus on the next game.”

For his part coach Mario Kovačević seemed more interested in discussing Dinamo’s upcoming domestic league game against Gorica than addressing the embarrassing 4:0 loss: “It was almost like we threw in the towel in the second half. But the next week that awaits us is probably the most important week of the fall session. We have to learn our lessons from today's loss and then forget about it, because on Monday we are only interested in a win. We know that it will be difficult, because Gorica is a strong opponent with a number of consecutive wins.”

Dinamo is now 23rd in the standings with seven points. Only the top 24 teams in the standings will advance to the play-off stage. Dinamo is set to host Spanish side Real Betis next on Thursday December 11th. In its remaining two first stage games Dinamo will host Bucharest Romania on January 22nd and play away at Danish side Midtjylland on January 29th.

Meanwhile, in the fourth round of play in the Conference League, Rijeka played to a scoreless draw at home against Cypriot side AEK Larnaca. Here’s what Rijeka defender Stjepan Radeljić had to say after the game: “We can say that we played well and dictated the tempo from the outset. We had our chances but failed to capitalize on them. All that remains is regret for the three points we let slip. But we're hopeful that if we play the final two games like we did against Hajduk and again today, that we'll be playing in Europe in the spring.”

“It was a good game, but the win eluded us. We created chances, but I think we need to play better in the final third of the game. But, things didn't go our way today, so we have to move on,” concluded right back Ante Oreč.

With five points Rijeka is currently 24th in the standings, the last spot that leads to the next round of the competition. They will host Slovenian side Celje next on December 11th, followed by an away game against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk on December 18th to wrap up the first phase of the competition.

Source: HRT