"I sincerely congratulate my players on the win. We looked for calm, we knew the chance would come, and we deserved to win," said Dinamo coach Mario Kovačević after the 2-1 victory over Rijeka.

– We prepared well. Right at the start we failed to take the chance Rijeka gifted us, and later we were a bit tense, but in the end we played the way we had agreed. We were more dangerous going forward, and we scored after a lovely move. We practically didn't allow Rijeka anything. We know the ball needed to move a little faster so that we could create more chances. At the start of the second half, we again failed to take advantage of another gift. It's incredible that in those 15 minutes of the second half we didn't score another goal. As soon as we eased off a little, Rijeka's quality punished us. They scored from their only shot on goal. After that it was a bit harder for us, but we believed in ourselves, we made changes, and we succeeded. I'm glad that Luka Stojković scored two goals and rewarded us all with them. We deserved the win, and I sincerely congratulate my players.

Was there any nervousness after Rijeka's equalizer?

– There's no nervousness there. We looked for calm, we knew the chance would come. We stayed stable and changed a few players...

How has Stojković dealt with the criticism recently?

– We talk all the time. He's had a small dip now, which came after a wonderful spell in which he played very well and was on the verge of the national team. But dips come for youngsters, and for players in general. He has a huge heart, which isn't always a good thing... He's young, I want him to be our key man, and I tell him that all the time. In this match he gave all of that back. There comes a period when things aren't going your way, when you get nervous. That's fine, positive nervousness is good when it shows you want even more and want to be stronger. And we helped him too. Not for a single moment did I doubt whether to put him in the team or not.

Did you consider bringing on a second striker?

– I've already said it, we changed things that way once. When you make changes like that and play "va banque," it can happen that it doesn't turn out well. We play our own game.

How much are you aiming for a settled team?

– Last season you attacked me when I rotated less, and now we're talking about a settled team. We have a tough schedule ahead in November and December, there are a lot of matches, and we need everyone. We're rising in form, we're going to enter a positive run. Everything will fall into place.

You often change players in the full-back positions.

– Niko Galešić felt tired, so Moris Valinčić came on in his place. Later, Matteo Perez Vinlöf played on the left side because he's more attacking. It was 1-1, so we wanted to gain an edge in the attacking third with his crosses and forward runs. Congratulations to him as well on his performance, he played well. So, I didn't bring on a second striker, but a slightly more attacking full-back – concluded coach Kovačević.