Dinamo and Rapid Wien met in the 4th round of the Europa League Group H on Thursday at Maksimir stadium in Zagreb. In front of 7,800 spectators, Dinamo defeated Rapid 3:1, returning to second place in the standings.
With this victory, Dinamo retaliated against the Austrian team after losing in Vienna (2:1) in the last round and made an important step towards winning one of the first two spots in the group.
Rapid took the lead in the eighth minute with a goal by Christoph Knasmullner, but the Blues turned the score around by the end of the half with goals by Bruno Petković (13′) and Komnen Andrić (34′). Finally, Josip Šutalo confirmed Dinamo’s victory in the 83rd minute.
Dinamo opened the group stage competition with a defeat to West Ham (0:2), after which they defeated Genk away 3:0, followed by a defeat in Vienna to Rapid. On the other hand, Rapid recorded two initial losses (Genk 0:1, West Ham 0:2) and was better than the Croatian champion in the last round.
Recap
Rapid took the lead in the eighth minute of the match with a goal by Christoph Knasmullner, though their celebration was short-lived. Only five minutes later, Petković equalized. Dinamo turned the score around in the 34th minute. Petković masterfully found Bartol Franjić, who immediately played in the penalty area, and Andrić received the ball to score for 2:1. Moments after Andrić’s goal, the Bad Blue Boys celebrated their 35th birthday with an impressive banner. Dinamo confirmed the victory in the 83rd minute when Šutalo scored with his head for 3:1.
West Ham leads the group with 10 points, Dinamo has six points, Genk 4, and Rapid 3 points.
On November 25, Dinamo – Genk, and Rapid – West Ham will meet in the next round, and the group stage competition ends on December 9, when West Ham – Dinamo and Genk – Rapid are scheduled.
The group winners go directly to the round of 16, while the runners-up will play for the quarterfinals against eight runners-up from the Champions League. The third from each Europa League group continue the season in the Conference League, where they will play the playoffs for the round of 16 against others from the Conference League groups.
Source: HRT
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