I agree that this was a somewhat shocking match, but that's football, emphasized Dinamo's coach Mario Kovačević after the first leg of the Champions League play-off in which his team led 2-0 against Norwegian side Viking, created chances, hit the crossbar, but the opponents managed to equalize.

– We had a brilliant start to the match, we were close to a 3-0 lead, Luka Stojković had shots that he usually scores, we were denied by the crossbar as well... We could have gone to 3-0, but unfortunately, two situations occurred where we should have reacted much better. We gifted the ball to our opponents and suddenly it was 2-2. In such situations, the team that manages to come back from a deficit usually has the psychological advantage, but we still controlled the match afterwards and I think we deserved the victory. But we won't give up, we have a new match ahead of us, I believe in my players, we can play even better, get the victory and qualify for the Champions League – added coach Kovačević.

The Maksimir strategist disagreed with a journalist's observation that Dinamo retreated after taking the lead.

– How did we retreat if we were creating chances, hit the crossbar, were close to a third goal? We can't even say that the Norwegians attacked and missed a single chance... We only made mistakes in those two situations. But to say we retreated and were defending, that's not true.

Now you've experienced Viking, what kind of second leg do you expect?

– I think we scouted them well, they showed they're good in set-pieces and throw-ins... They throw almost every throw-in into our penalty area... They have quality, they scored the first goal after our mistake, but it was an incredibly good strike, into the top corner. For their second goal we had possession of the ball, but their player stayed up front completely unmarked. Still, they leave quite a bit of space, we knew that and used it well, they defended later, blocked shots... As I said, we scored two goals, hit the crossbar, had plenty of situations. I think we outplayed them and should have won. We have a new match ahead of us, I believe we can be at least as good as this and convert such chances.

When asked if Dinamo is ready for the Champions League, coach Kovačević added:

– One victory separates us from the Champions League, we're fighting, giving our all, but it's normal that we must be careful not to make such mistakes, to be more dangerous. We know it won't be easy in Norway. They will leave space up front and I believe we'll exploit that.