[VIDEO] HNL Week 8 – Transfer Window Closes

Dinamo performed a flawless routine victory of visiting Slaven Belupo this weekend and routed the Pharmacists 3-0 at Maksimir.

It did not take long for the Modri to go ahead, due in part to Slaven’s midfielder Goran Parački.

Parački was struck with a low hard cross from Domagoj Antolić and indadvertedly deflected the ball into his own goal. Parački’s own goal in the 11th minute put Dinamo on top and that is where they remained for 79 more minutes. Angelo Henriquez doubled the Dinamo lead with his goal just before the half’s end in the 44th minute.

Ante Čorić sent in a cross that Henriquez bumped in with his head, over the reach of Matjaz Rozman.

Alexandru Matel rounded out the 3-0 victory for Dinamo in the 79th minute with his first goal of the season.

The Pharmacists left Eduardo with little to do in his goal throughout the 90 minutes, and the Portuguese goalkeeper registered his fourth clean sheet of the season and 18th as a member of Dinamo Zagreb.

Hajduk Split also played to a perfect victory, keeping Inter Zaprešić scoreless in their 2-0 win.

Andrija Balić got the scoring started early with a fourth-minute goal from long distance.

Balić was given the ball and put everything he had into it to drive a low hard shot from nearly 25 yards out to beat the goalkeeper. Only two minutes later, Hajduk had an opportunity to double their lead, but Fran Tudor missed the net when he tried to tap in a rebound from close range.

Hajduk was given another chance to score early in the match when Mislav Komorski took Tudor down in the box in the 10th minute. A penalty was awarded to Hajduk and was taken by Nikola Vlašić, but the poor shot was easily saved by Ivan Čović.

It appeared that the Bili were finally able to find the elusive second goal in the 17th minute, but Goan Milović’s goal was overturned due to a foul in the box and the score yet again remained 1-0.

Inter was forced to finish the match with only 10 on the field due to Komorski’s second yellow of the day in the 51st minute and it didn’t take long for Hajduk to take advantage. Cameroonian Frank Ohandza scored his first goal for Hajduk in the 69th minute to give the match its final score of 2-0.

Inter’s best scoring chance came in the 73rd minute from Dominik Glavina who found the ball at his feet only feet from the goal but the striker sent the ball wide of the net when trying to beat Lovre Kalinić.

Hajduk now sits in fourth place, only three points behind Dinamo. Inter have fallen to seventh place after the loss.

HNK Rijeka scored five goals on winless Osijek on Sunday, wining the match 5-0 at Rujevica.

It was a difficult night for Osijek who were dominated by Rijeka who outclassed their opponents. Rijeka was without one key player, Ivan Tomečak, who has been transferred for Ukraine’s Dnipro this weekend. Tomecak was one of Rijeka’s most dependable defenders and played 95 matches with Rijeka since his arrival in 2013.

But the Rijeka defense stood strong and kept Osijek off the scoresheet for all 90 minutes on Sunday, but unfortunately for Osijek, defensive woes plagued the match.

Rijeka’s first goal came from Bekim Balaj in the 16th minute after Osijek defender Ivica Džolan made a critical error when trying to return the ball to his goalkeeper. Balaj took advantage of the mistake and scored the opening goal.

Džolan was issued a yellow card in the 24th minute, and quickly found himself on the bench soon after, being replaced by Tomislav Šarić. Roman Bezjak scored the second goal for Rijeka in the 32nd minute after following up a rebound and tapping the ball into the goal.

A third goal was scored in the 43rd minute, this time from Matej Mitrović. Mitrović was the first to the ball when sent in from a corner kick and headed in a goal.

Balaj would again score, making it 4-0 for Rijeka in the 49th minute. It was nearly 5-0 in the ensuing seconds after the goal, but Bezjak smashed the ball off the post, keeping the score at 4-0.

But the final goal was bound to happen with Rijeka pushing as hard as they were, creating chance after chance.

It was a set piece from inside the six yard box that got Rijeka their fifth goal. All 11 Osijek players on the field lined up on the goal line to defend the shot, but Anas Sharbini found a way to sneak the ball in under the wall to score.

Osijek remains winless and sits in ninth place with five points. Rijeka on the other hand are in second place, two points behind the leader.

The Zagrebački derbi took place at Kranjčevićeva on Saturday between the two residents of the stadium, NK Zagreb and NK Lokomotiva.

Lokomotiva won the battle of Kranjčevićeva with a score of 2-1. The Lokosi struck first in the 17th minute with a goal from Tomislav Mrčela.

Lovro Medić tied the match with a penalty shot in the 50th minute, but the Lokosi didn’t let that discourage them. Coming back to take the lead in the 76th minute, Mirco Marić scored the game winner to take all three points and leave NK Zagreb in last place with no wins and only three points from three draws this season.

Lokomotiva are in fifth place with 10 points.

Lokosi midfielder, Damir Šovšić made the move from Kranjčevićeva to Maksimir this weekend, joining Dinamo Zagreb.

The 25-year-old who started his professional career with NK Zagreb was presented to the public in a press conference on Monday that also featured NK Zagreb goalkeeper, Dominik Livaković.

Livaković made his move to Dinamo over the weekend but will remain with the Poets for the remainder of the season on loan. Sporting Director Zdravko Mamić described Livaković as the “best keeper in the league.”

Former Zagreb coach Ciro Blažević said the same thing about the young keeper when he coached him from 2012 to 2013.

NK Zagreb also lost talented attacking midfielder, Filip Krovinović who was transferred to Portuguese first division side, Rio Ave.

RNK Split snapped their two-game losing streak by dominating the day against visiting NK Istra.

The loss ended Istra’s five-match unbeaten run and dropped them to sixth place, six points behind first. Split’s Dražen Bagarić bagged two goals in the game with the first one coming in the 11th minute.

Former Istra man, Slavko Blagojević, scored the second goal of the game in the 26th minute and Bagarić put the match out of reach in the 35th minute.

Istra did themselves no favors by going down to 10 men in the 54th minute, and faced the consequences by losing the game.