February 26, 2025 – Rijeka beat Hajduk 3-1 in the SuperSport Croatian Cup quarter-final on Wednesday at Poljud.
Hajduk and Rijeka met in the first SuperSport Croatian Cup quarterfinal match at Poljud on Wednesday. Dinamo and Osijek will meet in the second quarterfinal tonight at 19:45. Istra plays Lokomotiva and Belupo plays Gorica in the next quarter-final meetups in March.
Staring lineups
HAJDUK: Lucic – Melnjak, Uremovic, Prpic, Diallo – Pukstas, Rakitic – Sigur, Kalik, Sego – Livaja
RIJEKA: Zlomislić – Bogojevic, Majstorovic, Radeljic, Devetak – Selahi – Jankovic, Gojak, Petrovic, Djouahra – Fruk
Match report
Rijeka had the first dangerous attack with a corner in the 3rd minute. The ball found Bogojevic who shot over the goal. In the 7th minute, Rijeka intercepted the ball from Hajduk at the midfield line and went for a quick counter. Nais Djouahra received a beautiful pass in the penalty area and scored past the Hajduk goalkeeper for an early 0-1 lead.
Hajduk picked up the momentum and started to press in Rijeka’s half, with Puktas taking control of the midfield. A brilliant ball by Melnjak into the penalty area was saved by the Rijeka keeper. In the next play, Rijeka took advantage of a mistake from Hajduk’s backline and sent a perfect through ball to Fruk who scored for 0-2 in the 15th minute.
Hajduk answered with back-to-back chances and a close call for Rijeka’s keeper. And two more great chances in the 23rd and 24th minutes thanks to Pukstas and Livaja. They were hungry to get a goal to get back into the game.
And then it happened. Kalik received the ball from Hajuk’s back line, turned on the Rijeka player, and played an incredible long ball to Livaja over 30 meters away. Livaja was one-on-one with the keeper and shot far post to make it 1-2 in the 29th.
For the next 10 minutes there was good back and forth with high intensity from both sides. It was a proper Cup quarterfinal, and it was 1-2 for Rijeka at halftime.
Hajduk came out to play in the second half, securing a dangerous free kick in the first minute and a sure chance a minute after that. Sigur shot over the goal.
Rijeka stayed calm and waited for their chance, which they got in the 51st minute when Fruk scored for 1-3. A shock to Hajduk’s system.
A potential penalty for Hajduk took a long VAR observation, but Kolaric ruled no handball and no penalty in the end.
Gattuso decided to make changes for his side, with Rusyn, Krovinovic and Durdov coming on for Kalik, Pukstas and Melnjak. Rijeka subbed off Gojak for Menalo.
The intensity cooled on both sides until the 76th when Sigur took another chance for Hajduk. And then another for Hajduk came in the 80th with Durdov calling for a penalty.
Hajduk pressed in the last 10 minutes but couldn’t get that golden chance to score. Rijeka is on their way to the SuperSport Croatian Cup semi-finals.
