Marked for Sergi Domínguez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Oct 2026
21 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match24 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Dinamo Zagreb did not have in the autumn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mohamed Nasraoui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateo Lisica has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Lokomotiva Zagreb, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
One of those days for Dion Beljo
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Dinamo Zagreb are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Boris Cop on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Mateo Lisica beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 38. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Oct 2026
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match17 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Dinamo Zagreb do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market19 Oct 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Dinamo Zagreb heard it as anything else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Zagreb this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Boris Cop: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match17 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Dinamo Zagreb?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Istra 1961? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Zagreb, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dinamo Zagreb, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Fran Topić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Dinamo Zagreb do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and Dinamo Zagreb go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Boris Cop after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. HNK Rijeka will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dion Beljo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dinamo Zagreb needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Villarreal come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Zagreb did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Dinamo Zagreb have gone to Istra 1961 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.0M — a club that wants Mohamed Nasraoui enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dion Beljo commits to Dinamo Zagreb for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mislav Oršić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Mateo Lisica beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.