Rijeka suffers a surprise loss to Shelbourne in Europa League qualifiers

In the third round of qualification for the Europa League, Rijeka suffered a surprise 2:1 home loss to Irish side Shelbourne on Wednesday night. The return leg will be played on Tuesday in Dublin, with opening kick-off at 8:45 local time.

Rijeka, the reigning Croatian champions, opened the scoring in the 56th minute with a goal from Niko Janković from a penalty kick. However, Rijeka manager Radomir Đalović was forced to play a weakened squad having lost attacking midfielder Toni Fruk and forward Gabrijel Rukavina to red cards they earned in the second leg of their previous qualification against Bulgarian side Ludogorec. As such, Ante Matej Jurić started the game as striker, while 19-year-old Šimun Butić assumed the reigns over the offensive end of the midfield.

The Irish champions evened the score in the 58th minute of play with a goal from Sam Bone and then took the lead on a goal from John Martin in the 70th minute of play. Here's what coach Đalović had to say after the game: "When you're not up to the task, then it's normal to be booed by your fans. And we're all responsible for that. It was fantastic when we were winning, when we won the championship, but you get your fans accustomed to good results and you have to be able to play up to that level."

Rijeka goalkeeper Martin Zlomislić was also disappointed with the loss: "We took a 1:nil lead on a penalty, and instead of settling the game we allowed two center shots from two set plays, knowing full well that they are good in that segment. These are rookie mistakes. We also made a lot mistakes in the offensive end. But, we have the return leg, and we'll have to pull ourselves out of the fire in Ireland."

This marks a continuation of the so-called Đalović "curse" that has plagued Rijeka in European matches. This was his sixth match in European competitions, and he is yet to register a win, having registered two draws and four losses, with an embarrassing 3:13 goal difference.

Source: HRT