Coach Kovačević: In Rijeka we need to be aggressive and strong from the first minute

The first two away games in the new season are both derbies. That's Dinamo's schedule at the start of the new competitive year, as the Blues opened the season by defeating Osijek 2-0 at Opus Arena, then outplayed Vukovar 3-0 at Maksimir, and this Saturday at 9 pm they face their second away game, this time against Rijeka at Rujevica.

Maksimir coach Mario Kovačević congratulated Rijeka at the start for advancing to the Europa League play-offs, ensuring a European autumn for the Kvarner team: even if they don't make it through the play-offs, they will continue the season in the Conference League group stage.

– I congratulate my colleague Radomir Đalović and Rijeka on reaching the group stage of UEFA competitions, I sincerely hope it will be in the Europa League. Now we have two guaranteed Croatian representatives in the groups. We wish luck to Hajduk so that there are three of us – emphasized coach Kovačević.

- On the eve of the match at Rujevica, we had a good week, we worked well, it is important that we do not have any serious injuries compared to the last match. Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel and Nikola Čavlina are slightly injured so they will not be available for Saturday. Recently, new arrivals Miha Zajc and Mounsef Bakrar joined us. Both are training well, we will not use Zajc yet, but Bakrar is in consideration. Everyone is training and working well, we can't wait for the match. We know what Rijeka is like, lately our biggest rival. Besides, we know how it was in our last visit to Rujevica, Dinamo did not do well. We are aware of everything, we will give our best to show a good game and win.

On the journalist's inquiry about the media reports regarding the possible return of our celebrated goalkeeper Dominik Livaković to Dinamo, coach Kovačević briefly added:

"- That is a question for the sports director. I am very satisfied with our goalkeeper. Of course, it is unnecessary to talk about Livaković's qualities, we know how much he brought to Dinamo, but that falls under the category of 'what if'."

What kind of Rijeka do you expect on Saturday, four days after their European match?

- We know what Rijeka will be like - aggressive and strong. They play at home, and when Dinamo comes to them, there is no fatigue. Dinamo mobilizes them all, both players and fans. But I expect my team to be aggressive and strong as well. Rijeka won't give us anything for free. Besides, we have been playing European matches for years, they sometimes tire us a bit, but it has just begun. I don't expect Rijeka to be tired. As I said, we must be aggressive and strong from the first minute, not wait for Rijeka to 'fall' but to impose ourselves.

In recent performances, Dinamo has had some minor issues with set pieces...

- We are aware of the mistakes we showed in the matches against Osijek and Vukovar, we had problems with set pieces, we are working on that. We are also aware of the weaknesses, but also of the good things. We want to improve the weaknesses, and make the good things even better. In all segments, we must be the best we can be in order to beat Rijeka.

How important is it for Dinamo, in the context of creating a new, different team, to play a good match at Rujevica at the beginning of the season?

- It is very important to us. We have four matches against Rijeka in the league, but it is important to show in the first one that last season was not a fluke. We respect Rijeka, there is always a heated atmosphere there, but Dinamo has won there before. I believe it will be the same this time, that we will show that we are the ones who aim for the first place after all.

Will Dinamo field the same starting lineup at Rujevica as in the first two rounds?

- We will see, we have two more training sessions. We have to respect these two results from the beginning of the championship, the total goal difference is 5:0... If I make changes, it will not be because something was bad but because we want it to be better. We want more competition. It is possible that there will be changes, but we will see - added coach Kovačević.