Marked for Ivan Barić
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at NK Osijek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Palma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch20 Mar 2028
22 appearances at Hrvace and the goals keep coming. NK Osijek are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Ivan Barić gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Luka Vrbančić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at NK Osijek will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Nail Omerović knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nail Omerović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bruno Petković’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Loan watch20 Mar 2028
17 appearances at NK Domzale and the goals keep coming. NK Osijek are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad20 Mar 2028
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. NK Osijek lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Match20 Mar 2028
NK Osijek have something to play for
Position 5 on 29 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Mar 2028
Andrej Mićić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Osijek they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matej Gagulić and NK Osijek agree another 4 years.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Palma is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad13 Mar 2028
David Mejía was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Malenica, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Matej Gagulić knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matej Gagulić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Emin Hasić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at NK Osijek will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch13 Mar 2028
Matej Grahovac’s loan is measured in nothing happening
8 clean sheets from 30 appearances at Solin. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Vito Čaić's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market31 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Jon Mersinaj
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jon Mersinaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Osijek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Palma is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market31 Jan 2028
Renan Guedes is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at NK Osijek has been clear about where Renan Guedes stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Bruno Petković has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at NK Osijek will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Barić
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch31 Jan 2028
Matej Grahovac’s loan is measured in nothing happening
7 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Solin. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market31 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Luis Palma’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Jan 2028
Luka Vrbančić hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Osijek can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” NK Osijek may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market24 Jan 2028
Renan Guedes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Osijek they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Jan 2028
The name of Emin Hasić has come up in conversations NK Osijek were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Loan watch24 Jan 2028
The goals keep arriving from Yannick Touré’s exile
14 goals in 22 games at Hrvace — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at NK Osijek updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch24 Jan 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Osijek, and 0 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Michele Šego
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
Marko Malenica asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Dec 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ivan Barić obliged against Dubrava. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is NK Osijek.
Match11 Dec 2027
Istra 1961 will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. NK Osijek were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match13 Dec 2027
NK Osijek finish in position 4
29 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Both of them Ivan Barić's — 8.77
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.77, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Dec 2027
Renan Guedes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Osijek they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The terraces13 Dec 2027
He is 22 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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Nail Omerović
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match8 Dec 2027
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ivan Barić in the middle of it, and Dubrava unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout22 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Renan Guedes has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at NK Osijek is pretending otherwise.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
He is 22 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Palma. 2‑0 against NK Varazdin, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Barić and NK Osijek agree another 5 years.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Michele Šego
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The team sheet said everything about Marko Malenica
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marko Malenica.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Osijek, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Marko Malenica
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Oct 2027
NK Osijek through in the cup
A 3‑0 win over Dugopolje, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market18 Oct 2027
“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 NK Osijek, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Renan Guedes
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Renan Guedes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Osijek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Luis Palma falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match16 Oct 2027
HNK Rijeka made NK Osijek work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Michele Šego
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Marked 7.98. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
In brief
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Loan watch
Marin Kolić wants to come home
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
When it matters, Emin Hasić plays
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Mar 2027
29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bruno Petković commits to NK Osijek for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at NK Osijek
Bruno Petković and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Palma is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Barić, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Matej Gagulić knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Osijek, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
7 shut-outs in 28 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Matej Grahovac has been having a lot of them.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Ivan Barić gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ivan Barić is on it.
Market8 Mar 2027
The Roko Jurišić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roko Jurišić signs something — a contract at NK Osijek or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
51 days out for Marcel Heister after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Osijek will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Samuel Akere: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Osijek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Bruno Petković was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at NK Osijek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Palma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Barić and NK Osijek agree another 5 years.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Miro is in the works
NK Osijek have made the call to Dinamo Makhachkala. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Marko Malenica has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at NK Osijek will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jon Mersinaj may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
75 days out for Marcel Heister after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Osijek will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivan Barić is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Luis Palma falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Dec 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 NK Osijek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
The goals keep arriving from Jakov Dedić’s exile
13 goals in 18 games at Jadran Luka Ploce — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at NK Osijek updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Tonio Teklić
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
A promise honoured at NK Osijek
Something was said to Domagoj Bukvić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Luka Vrbančić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at NK Osijek will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Domagoj Bukvić knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Domagoj Bukvić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Yannick Touré breaks a bone — 68 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at NK Osijek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Palma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of David Čolina
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Nov 2026
David Mejía in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Osijek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bruno Petković’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
When it matters, Ivan Barić plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against HNK Vukovar 1991 in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
10 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Damjan Đokanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Patrik Klarić
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. NK Osijek lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Oct 2026
80 days out for Nikola Čurćija after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Osijek will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match24 Oct 2026
There were 88 minutes on the clock and HNK Rijeka had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and NK Osijek did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Bruno Petković takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Petković provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match26 Oct 2026
20 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at NK Osijek
Luis Palma and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Bruno Petković’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Osijek.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 20 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.