After four consecutive away matches at the start of the league season, the young Maksimir footballers will now play in the role of hosts for the first time. Dinamo B will welcome Sesvete on Friday at 15:30 at the ground in Zaprešić in the 5th round match of the SuperSport First NL.

The Blues, despite solid performances, opened the season with two initial defeats, but quickly turned their success chart in the other direction and followed up with two consecutive victories in which they defeated Vukovar 1991 6-2 and Kustošija 1-0. Additional encouragement certainly comes from the debut appearance of six Dinamo B players in the first team jersey: on Wednesday, Nikola Radnić, Gabrijel Šivalec, Noah Nsoki, Jona Benkotić, Fuzy Taylor and Kaloyan Bozhkov made their debuts for the first team in the cup match against Bedem in Ivankov. The young defender Radnić played the full 90 minutes. Nsoki also started in the eleven, though he is still waiting for his debut for Dinamo B.

– We have finally reached a match where we have the role of hosts. Alright, we still have to get used to Zaprešić, but at least our opponents aren't on their home ground either, so we can say we're equal in that sense. The pitch should be good, as far as I can see, it's been maintained to the maximum. Thanks to everyone who works hard on the pitch to make it as good as possible for us to play on – highlighted coach Jerko Leko.

Will there be any changes to the squad compared to recent appearances?

– We're playing for the first time without Lovre Kulušić who has moved to Lokomotiva. Borna Orlić got injured against Kustošija and hasn't recovered yet. We have permanently added Ivan Paunović to the second team. The others are ready, some made their debuts in the Cup for the first team which particularly pleases me. This shows that the cooperation between us, the first team and the U-19 team is working, and we will continue like this.

There are only two days between the cup match in Ivankov and the league match against Sesvete. How much will this affect the lineup?

– It will condition things a little, most of them came on in the second half and played under 30 minutes. Only Radnić played the entire match so we'll see if he'll start against Sesvete. We also have Tottenham Hotspur in England on Tuesday in the Premier League International Cup, we have to look at the bigger picture of what's coming in our schedule, to prevent injuries due to continuous matches. But it's fine, the boys are young, it's a pleasure for them when they play. We, however, must be careful that they don't get too burdened in terms of minutes and that injuries don't occur. We have a problem with centre-backs, but we'll sort ourselves out for this match.

Sesvete currently have the same record as Dinamo B, having recorded two wins and two defeats in four matches. In their last match, they defeated Segesta 2-0.

– Sesvete are an experienced team, led by Mario Rac, a coach we know, we're friends... It will be a demanding match. The team is similar to Orijent, they like to play, there's Samid Akanni who I also know well, they're solid and aggressive... They will certainly try to pressure us and somewhat restrain our youth so we don't get carried away. But we have our style and we won't change it for any opponent. The league is quite balanced. In the first two matches we lost although we were solid, in the next two we won. As a coach I spent four years in that league, it really is balanced, with two wins you're third, with two defeats you're tenth. But the table isn't their concern, let them just think about delivering the best possible performance on the pitch every time – added coach Leko.