Hearts, along with Celtic and Rangers our remaining sides in European competition travel to the Croatian capital tonight to face Dinamo Zagreb.
Somewhat worryingly for Hearts, the Croatian football season is already into it’s fourth game, with Dinamo leading the Priva NHL league with four wins our of four.
Dinamo, known as “The Blues” have recorded some large scorelines already this season. In their four games they have scored 21 goals and conceded only 3, including a 7-1 win at Istra 1961. Hearts should contend themselves with the fact that while these wins are impressive, the opposition generally came from lower down the leagues.
Dinamo’s only defeat so far this season was the Champions League qualifier against Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg. Their surprise 2-1 defeat at home, in a game where Salzburg where expected to buckle under the pressure of notoriously fervent supporters in a tight, packed stadium showed that Dinamo are for the taking.
Hearts are boosted by the return of left-back Lee Wallace and central defender Marius Zaliukas is available (his SPL suspension does not count in European fixtures). Hearts will travel without Andrew Driver, Calum Elliot and Laryea Kingston, all out of the game due to injuries.
Prediction
A tough game, in a tough atmosphere against on-form opponents. The defeat to Dundee United had Heart’s getting of to a less than ideal start to their season, but they showed in that game that they’re a decent side. The key to success is containing Dinamo’s explosive strike force: Sammir scored three goals in last weeks 5-0 win over Osijek, while Greek international Papadopolous and midfielder Pedro Morales are all regular goal scorers.
Under manager Csaba Laszlo Hearts have been rejuvenated after a period of mediocrity. While this is undoubtedly not an easy fixture, Hearts need to score at least one goal to give themselves a good chance of getting a result in the return fixture at Tynecastle next Thursday.
I can’t see Hearts winning, but they should be happy with a 2-1 result, which is how I see it going.
Hearts (from): Kello, Kucharski, Bouzid, Goncalves, Jonsson, Santana, Palazuelos, M Stewart, Obua, Witteveen, Black, Nade, Novikovas, Balogh, Glen, J Stewart, Park, Zaliukas.
Hearts in Europe
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Tags: Dinamo Zagreb, Europa League, Heart of Midlothian, Hearts