It's always difficult in Pula, we knew that, and we didn't really have much time to prepare because we had a tough European match two and a half days earlier. It wasn't easy either psychologically or physically after that defeat in Norway, emphasized Dinamo's coach Mario Kovačević after his team drew 2-2 away against Istra 1961.

– We came back twice after Istra took the lead and I congratulate my players wholeheartedly on that. Of course, we wanted the victory too, but there wasn't enough time. Istra took advantage of our mistakes, scored two goals, then defended well and it was difficult to break through. As I said, we were also tired, and the opponent is good. In the second half when we were pressing, Istra created one chance, but Ivan Nevistić made the save. We showed that we are persistent, that we don't give up. This is our 27th match in the HNL without defeat, so we're pleased about that detail too. We move on, now we have a week to prepare for the match against Gorica at Maksimir Stadium.

The injured Niko Galešić was not available for this match. On the other hand, Kirill Kravtsov made his debut on this occasion, while Smail Prevljak scored his first goal in a Dinamo shirt...

– I'm pleased with the reaction of the new players. Kravtsov came on very well, I'm happy that Prevljak scored, I hope he will score many more goals in a Dinamo shirt. Galešić injured his hamstring in the last training session, but I believe he will be ready for the next match against Gorica – coach Kovačević concluded.

And what does the scorer of his first goal for Dinamo say? Smail Prevljak scored for 2-2 in the 84th minute.

– I'm happy that I scored, but we must be satisfied with this point, we fought for it, it wasn't easy, we had the journey from Norway behind us, a difficult pitch... In the end we earned a point that we must be satisfied with. That goal means a lot to me, we strikers are always measured by our goals. It means a lot for my confidence too, I hope there will be more and more of them. I'm pleased that the team showed character. Every player showed how much he wants a good result. We gave our maximum at this moment. It's a shame we didn't win although we could have. Now we have a week of rest ahead of us to prepare well for the new match – Prevljak added.