Dinamo Zagreb vs Hajduk Split predictions and betting tips on July 21, 2023
On July 21, Stadion Maksimir (Zagreb) will host the match of the 1st round of the Croatian HNL, in which Dinamo Zagreb will compete with Hajduk Split. The battle will start at 20:00 CET.
Dinamo Zagreb
The team is considered to be the flagship of Croatian football. It was back in the days of Yugoslavia, when 4 league titles and 7 cups were taken. 24 sets of golden medals have already been achieved since independence. Everyone is so accustomed only to success that, when “the Blues” lost in the Croatian Cup semi-finals in the spring, the management immediately replaced the mentor, Ante Čačić, by Bišćan. Igor, taking into account his previous career, is a well-known defender in the past, who started and ended as a football player just in the capital of Croatia. Still, he has got little experience as a coach. It goes without saying that he won another title with his new wards, but that success was already perceived as a “mandatory programme” – the final advantage over Hajduk was 10 points. In fact, a full-fledged work begins right now; fortunately, “the Dinamo team” has practically retained the squad, without having time to sell anyone, so far. Although, Livaković is already “on his suitcases” in order to move to Fenerbahçe.
Hajduk Split
The club was even more successful in unified Yugoslavia. Still, it gradually faded into the second background at the time of independence. The last golden medals were taken in 2001 and 2004-2005. Nowadays, “the Masters from the Sea” are basically limited by the silver ones, but they partially compensate for this with victories in the Croatian Cup – the team won the higher mentioned tournament both in 2022 and 2023. And the squad has been changed quite seriously. Such well-known, but clearly past their peak, players as Stefan Simic, Nikola Kalinić, Lovrenčić and Danijel Subašić have left the club. At the same time, a number of legionnaires were signed as free agents – Fahd Moufi, Ismaël Diallo, Leon Dajaku and Odjidja-Ofoe.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
The last time Hajduk won was in April of the previous year. Speaking about 2023, Dinamo got a devastating victory at the home arena and took a goalless draw in Split. Last week, the same opponents played in the Super Cup and the only goal of Baturina brought the victory to “the Blues”.
Predictions
Bookmakers do not expect that the state of things will change gradually. Thus, we bet on a new victory of the champion, which will play on the home arena (odd: 1.69).