Europa League: West Ham Beats Dinamo in Group Stage Opener at Maksimir

Dinamo and West Ham met in the first round of the Europa League group stage on Thursday at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. Although the Croatian champion has much more experience in European competitions, West Ham’s status as a solid Premier League club made them the favorite going into this match. 

Croatia national team player (and former Hajduk star) Nikola Vlašić was in West Ham’s starting 11, while Bruno Petković and Mislav Oršić led Dinamo’s attack. There were 12,344 spectators at the stadium, of which 859 were West Ham supporters. 

Lineups: 

Dinamo: Livaković – Šutalo, Lauritsen, Theophile-Catherine – Ristovski, Ademi, Mišić, Franjić – Ivanušec – Petković, Oršić

West Ham: Fabianski – Fredericks, Zouma, Diop, Cresswell – Rice, Souček – Vlašić, Lanzini, Fornals – Antonio

The first half was one to forget for the Croatian club and perhaps one of the worst halves they’ve played in Europe in the last few years. An unrecognizable Dinamo succumbed to West Ham’s pressure and gave up two corners in the first 3 minutes of play. 

Dinamo’s first attack didn’t come until the 11th minute, and Petković and Ademi could not get past Fabianski. An Oršić shot from 30 meters out in the 20th minute almost gave Dinamo the lead, though a catastrophic mistake by Theophile-Catherine put West Ham in the lead instead. Theophile-Catherine weakly passed back to Livaković without realizing Antonio was there to score for 0:1. Livaković had to save Dinamo from another close encounter 3 minutes later. 

Dinamo struggled to find their game, and Vlašić nearly had a few chances for West Ham in the remainder of the half, but the match luckily ended 0:1 for West Ham at halftime. 

Dinamo picked up their pace at the start of the second half with an attacking play immediately in the first minute. But West Ham was quicker to increase their lead, and Declan Rice scored for 0:2 in the 51st minute.

Dinamo had a good chance 3 minutes later when Ivanušec’s shot went out for a corner, and another chance again in the 60th, which just missed the goal. 

West Ham subbed out Vlašić for Bowen in the 69th minute.

Dinamo was lucky not to concede another goal in the 79th minute. Tolić pulled a counter-attack with Jurić in the 87th minute, though it was no tough task for Fabianski. 

Three minutes of injury time were added to the end of the match, which was not enough for Dinamo to get back a goal. The match ended 0:2 for West Ham. 

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