The Croatian Football League has reached its final stage, and it seems there is a new wind blowing from Kvarner...
Dinamo is the reigning champion of the Croatian Football League. That sentence has been written for a while now, but those days seem to be ending. Three more rounds of this season are to be played, and the first of those three kicks off May 16. 2017.
Rijeka has the 5 points lead to second-placed Dinamo, and if they manage to win two out of three games in hand, they will be champions. The first and probably biggest obstacle on their path was skipped on Saturday, as Rijeka beat Hajduk at home.
Tomorrow, they travel to Koprivnica, to meet Slaven - Belupo, the team that gave them a lot of trouble in the past. Meanwhile, Dinamo’s biggest challenge will be the Osijek away match this weekend.
If Dinamo manages to cut the five-point gap Rijeka has at the moment, the clash between the two teams will decide the new champion in the last round of the season.
The season was not lacking controversy once again, as Lokomotiva, considered to be Dinamo’s affiliated club, is still in the competition, and it was the team which took three points to Rijeka, denying them the eight-point lead to Dinamo on the table.
It will be interesting to see if Rijeka will show character and take the title, or will Dinamo manage to overturn things in the final stage of the season.
As for the other clubs, Hajduk and Osijek are in a battle for the third position, while Inter, Cibalia, and Split have relegation trouble.
Here is the league table, with three more rounds to be played: