After this round, it looks like everything is decided in Croatian Football League unless one is an optimist and thinks Rijeka actually has a shot at the title in current conditions in which the league is played
It was a bad round for guest teams, as only Split managed to get a point in an away game, all other matches have gone to the home teams. Most important one was played on March 20. 2016 in Split, where Hajduk defeated Dinamo in what was a very interesting game.
In a first match played, Osijek got an expected win against written off Zagreb, a win that gave them a five point advantage over Istra, and with Istra losing in Koprivnica against Slaven Belupo, it does not look good for the team from Pula. They still have a chance to avoid it, but it looks like they’re heading for relegation play-off matches.
Rijeka won against Inter, and they did it in style. After the match, supporters remained on the stands for quite a while and celebrated together with the players, it looked like they knew what was to happen on Poljud the day after.
And it happened, surely being celebrated in Rijeka as much as in Split and Dalmatia, as Hajduk got its first win over Dinamo in almost four years. It was a relief for the home team, since they looked terrible in the last few matches especially in the cup one against Dinamo on Wednesday. Full report on this match is linked here.
Probably the only question to be answered is who will be in fourth position and get the last place for Europa League qualifications. Two contenders for the place played each other on Sunday and Lokomotiva and Split ended their match in a draw.
And to revert to our prediction from the headline of the article, we are afraid that this question will not be answered where it should be, on the pitch, but in some other places, as there is little hope that people running both Dinamo and CFF will allow for their project to be left out of Champions League qualification and also, there is always a question of Lokomotiva’s path.
Next week is reserved for national team’s matches, so the Croatian Football League will resume in the first weekend of April.
Here are all the results, and the league table;
Osijek – Zagreb 2-0
Slaven Belupo – Istra 1961 2-0
Rijeka – Inter 4-0
Hajduk – Dinamo 1-0
Lokomotiva – Split 1-1
1. Dinamo 63
2. Rijeka 61
3. Hajduk 50
4. Split 41
5. Lokomotiva 40
6. Inter-Zaprešić 33
7. Slaven Belupo 30
8. Osijek 27
9. Istra 1961 22
10. Zagreb 10
