Sport

Dinamo's Champions League Dream Over, Europa League on Horizon

By 29 August 2018

Dinamo failed to advance to the Champions League group stage after the Young Boys celebrated 1:2 at Maksimir. 

Dinamo was unable to defend their slight advantage from the first match in Switzerland and will not play in the Champions League group stage this season after all. With the Young Boys win at Maksimir who then achieved a 2:3 aggregate, the Swiss club will move on to the most prestigious competition in Europe, while Dinamo is granted direct placement into the Europa League group stage. 

Dinamo took the lead already in the 7th minute with a goal by Izet Hajrović, but in the middle of the second half, Guillaume Hoarau scored two goals in two minutes. Hoarau first equalized in the 64th minute from a penalty,  then came back just two minutes later in the 66th to end the game. 

For more than an hour of the game Zagreb, Dinamo was the better team, though their Champions League dreams were crushed by a single player in just 100 seconds. 

The Bern club will play for the first time in the Champions League, while this is the sixth time Dinamo has failed to advance into the competition. 

Dinamo played in front of a full Maksimir as 28.137 fans were in attendance. The stadium has not been as full for the club since the game against Azerbaijan club Neftchi in the second qualifying round of the 2011 Champions League, but it should be noted that at the time, tickets for the north and east stands were sold at a symbolic price of 1 kuna. 

Everything went without incident, and Dinamo fan group Bad Blue Boys not stop singing and cheering, even after the Swiss club achieved a massive turnaround in two minutes. 

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