December 10, 2019 - Dinamo Zagreb is facing Premier League champions Manchester City in the final group stage game of the Champions League on Wednesday. The only way for the Croatian side to join their visitors in the Champions League round of 16 is to beat them while Shakhtar mustn’t win at home against Atalanta.
Over the weekend, Nenad Bjelica’s side won 1:0 on Friday against Varazdin and extended their league lead over second-placed Hajduk to nine points, while City lost 2:1 at home to their city rivals Manchester United and are now 14 points behind Liverpool who sit comfortably at the top. Despite the bad form in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s team is still considered to be one of the favorites to win the Champions League this season, so a hard task is in front Dinamo who have not won in the competition since a 4:0 home success against Atalanta on Matchday 1.
While Dinamo is unbeaten in ten home European fixtures, a 2:1 defeat of Arsenal in Zagreb in September 2015 is Dinamo's only win against an English club in 12 previous fixtures, home and away with three successive defeats preceding the victory against the Gunners. Even though City have secured the top spot of Group C, Guardiola insists it will be senior first-team players who will feature in Croatia rather than the kids.
"[Two years ago] we traveled to Shakhtar already qualified, we fought until the end, 2:0 down and then 2:1, we had chances at the end. We’re going to travel with the intention to win, but you need a real urgency to do that, but to respect Shakhtar and Atalanta we have to do it."
When the Citizens and Dinamo went head to head at the Etihad in October, the Premier League champions fought hard for the 2:0 victory and scored the only goals of the game through the substitutes Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden in the second half. The brave display of Bjelica’s side away from home against one of the best teams in the world could mean that there is still hope for an upset in Zagreb.
Furthermore, Dinamo have lost only one home game since April 2018 (W36 D6), the 2:1 loss to Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg in August 2018, but City are unbeaten in Group C so far, though two consecutive draws have taken the shine off their initial dominance in the tournament. On paper, it might seem like an easy task for City, but with the help from a sold-out crowd of almost 30,000 Dinamo might have the final word.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
