Dinamo Zagreb Through to UEFA Champions League
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
(photo: igor kralj/ gnk dinamo)
The date is set. Dinamo Zagreb will be entered into the group stage draw for the Champions League on Thursday, Aug. 27 after beating Albania’s KF Skenderbeu Korce 4-1 today (6-2 agg)…
Dinamo went into today’s match with high expectations after beating the Albanian side away last week 2-1 with a last-minute stunner by Josip Pivarić.
The Modri were expected to advance after playing at Maksimir and started the scoring off in the ninth minute with a goal from El Arbi Hillel Soudani.
Soudani headed in a goal that came from an opposite field cross sent in from Pivarić to give the Modri an early lead.
But the celebrating did not last thanks to a goal from the Brazilian-born Esquerdinha that tied the match only seconds later, giving the Albanians a boost in morale.
Armin Hođžić did his part in making sure the contest was in Dinamo’s favor and recaptured the lead in the 15th minute.
The frenzy of goals left the first half with a score of 2-1 in favor of Dinamo.
The second half started off with an unfortunate second yellow card for Goncalo who was sent off in the 48th minute, leaving Dinamo with a big disadvantage.
But it didn’t look that way by the way the game continued.
Dinamo would go on to score a third goal in the 55th minute thanks to an effort by Jeremy Taravel.
Zoran Mamić decided to go for broke and added Marko Rog to the mix to try and score another goal, but it was Soudani who would again find himself on the scoresheet in the 80th minute and gave Dinamo the final 4-1 lead that would send them into the Champions League proper.
With the majority of the possession, Dinamo also held the bulk of the scoring chances and deservedly won the match and gave the crowd of 17,000 a reason to cheer.
