Coach Kovačević: We are ready, we are better and I believe we will celebrate on Saturday

A quarter of the championship race is behind us. After the "first 100 meters," Dinamo is at the top of the pack, while also flying high at the top of the Europa League standings... The passing time of the Blues in the current season is quite satisfactory, and this weekend they face a new challenge. After a two-week league break, Dinamo will host Osijek on Saturday at 6 pm in the 10th round of the SuperSport HNL, with the team of coach Mario Kovačević entering new challenges fresher, more rested, and with a new enthusiasm, emphasizing the desire to "repay" the fans for the recent loss in the city derby against Lokomotiva.

- I think we made good use of the championship break, it was good for us after playing a large number of matches in a short period. The guys are working well, we can't wait for the match. We highly appreciate Osijek, they are surely not satisfied with their place on the table, but they played good matches, all of them were interesting and could have gone the other way in the end. Osijek is a team that plays football, has a good midfield, good attackers... However, I believe that in that match a lot will depend on us, maybe even the most. I see that our players can't wait for the start, we will be ready for the match and give our all for the win. I think we are better at this moment and we will celebrate on Saturday - emphasized coach Kovačević.

How does the Maksimir coach evaluate the first quarter of the championship season?

- We have done an analysis in the club, and there are many things we can be satisfied with. You yourselves know that we are in a process that has just begun. Even in the last match against Lokomotiva, which ended the way it did, we still dominated. In general, we can be satisfied with the current part of the season, we won three derbies, and that on away ground. I say, I want to win against Dinamo in every match, but we know there will be fluctuations, especially because, as I said, we are still in the process of formation. We are at the top in the HNL and in the Europa League, and we must be satisfied with that, but our goal is to win more points.

 What is the situation with injuries, what kind of lineup will you have against Osijek?

- We have problems, I won't be able to count on Moren Živković, Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel got injured again... We'll see in what condition Mateo Lisica will be, but he will be ready for Malmö. We were also hit by a virus, Niko Galešić missed the last game because of it, this week also Gabriel Vidović. Everyone else is ready.

Will there be any changes in the lineup compared to the previous game?

- There will be changes due to those injuries, and also because of the large number of games. I say, we had an analysis, in these nine rounds we used 23 players, 20 of whom had good playing time. I trust all the players, everyone is working well, and those who are better at that moment will play.

How did Dinamo's coach deal with media criticism after the game against Lokomotiva?

- I completely understand the criticisms, I have been a coach for many years... I have never hidden, I always do things my way. Against Lokomotiva, the team that had played very well in the previous four matches played, so we chose them for that match. I say, we dominated, but we conceded goals too easily. If I had set up a different team, then there would probably have been criticisms questioning why I changed it.