The goal of the match is to raise funds to help orphaned children in war-torn Ukraine who now need accommodation in Croatia.
Tickets were 30 kuna while a donation line is also open to call until May 15. The number is 0609006. A call center was set up at Poljud’s White Salon on Sunday, where many celebrities answered the phones, from athletes to actors, singers, current first-team players, veterans, and members of the club’s Management Board. A special guest is UEFA President Alexander Ceferin.
Hajduk’s new home jersey was also officially presented for the first time at the friendly match.
Since this is a humanitarian meeting aimed at raising funds to help orphans in war-torn Ukraine, Hajduk put the first 12 jerseys up for auction, and all funds will be donated to the humanitarian action.
The club will publish two jerseys from Hajduk’s first-team players every day on the club’s official Facebook page. Bids can be left in the comments below the post with the winner being the highest bidder. Each of these jerseys will be signed by the player whose jersey is up for auction. The auction ends on May 7.
Before the match, HRT spoke to Hajduk president Lukša Jakobušić and former Croatia national team captain and Shakhtar legend Darijo Srna.
“I would like to immediately thank the President of Hajduk for this great gesture. I never dreamed we would play this kind of game today. However, it is life, we have to deal with it, and we have to fight it. Many thanks to them, many thanks to the fans, Croatia, Split, Dalmatia. This is a great honor for us and once again a huge thank you to Hajduk. Two months ago, when I talked to the president he said ‘Darijo, send all the children, we will take them all. We’ve been through it all, we know what it means to help at this point. Believe me, me personally, my club, and the whole of Ukraine will never forget this from Hajduk,” said the former Vatreni captain and the legend of the Split club. Srna is the current sports director of Shakhtar.
“In our DNA is defiance of the powerful and protection of the weak. We in this area know what trouble is, we know what war is and the least we can do is help. We help as much as we can, we know what Darijo did for Croatia and Hajduk. Out of respect for him and the children, we will try to help them at least a little,” said Jakobušić.
Lineups for Sunday’s friendly match
HAJDUK: Posavec, Fossati, Elez, Lovrencsics, Biuk, Zulić, Lazar, Letaj, Bradarić, Jakir, Ljubičić
Bench: Subašić, Fesyuk, Simić, Pukštas, Čuić, Brajković, Krolo, Nazor, Zubanović, Jurak, Grgić, Hrvojević, Petrović, Vrcić
SHAKHTAR Pyatov, Matviienko, Korniienko, Bondarenko, Marlon, Stepanenko, Konoplia, Sudakov, Topalov, Mudryk, Solomon
Bench: Shevchenko, Puzankov, Trubin, Rakytskyi, Farina, Bondar, Buleza, Udod, Stasyuk, Drambaev, Kapinus, Chekh, Myshnyov, Shostak, Siheev, Kryskiv, Khromel, Boirachuk
Marin Ljubičić scored the first goal of the match for Hajduk in the 10th minute for 1:0, which was the score going into halftime.
Franjo Lazar scored an early goal in the second half for 2:0 going into the 49th minute. Anel Zulić was subbed off for Zubanović in the 50th minute.
In the 57th minute, Hajduk subbed off Marco Fossati for Rokas Pukstas, Josip Elez for Stefan Simic, and Franjo Lazar for Luka Jurak.
Dmytro Topalov scored for 2:1 in the 59th minute and Petro Stasiuk equalized for 2:2 in the 74th minute! But Hajduk’s Marin Ljubičić made it 3:2 with 10 minutes to go.
Boriachuk scored during stoppage time for the final 3:3!
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