We could have scored more goals, but the important thing is that we won, it wasn't easy to play just three days after a European match, highlighted Dinamo's coach Mario Kovačević immediately after his team defeated Slaven Belupo 2-0 with an impressive performance at the start of the new league season.

– It wasn't easy, humid weather, a tough match, we rotated the team, gave a chance to those who played less. Slaven Belupo had the first opportunity, but after that everything was in our hands. Our goalkeeper Ivan Filipović reacted brilliantly at that moment, it's good for him to gain additional confidence with saves. Everything turned out well, we scored beautiful goals, hit the post twice, the crossbar once, and their goalkeeper made some very good saves... That's the only thing I'm not satisfied with, we should have scored a few more goals. But if we look at it generally, then we must be satisfied.

Luka Stojković had to miss the matches against Thun in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League due to a red card from last season, now he played in the starting lineup...

– I told him to just play simple and everything will fall into place. And it did. He hadn't played an official match for a long time, you saw that ball for the second goal, he has that, Stojković means a lot to us. We're satisfied. Now we have four days of rest for the most important match, against Žalgiris.

Dinamo will therefore host Lithuanian Kauno Žalgiris on Tuesday in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League, a team coached from the bench by former Maksimir strategist Željko Sopić.

– We only watched their last match against opponents from the Faroe Islands. Well, there are no easy opponents today. Sopić knows us, I see that he's working well with them, this is their biggest success in club history. They'll come here with great will and desire to achieve something even more. We must be careful. But I know that we'll grow from match to match.

Dion Drena Beljo opened the league season with two goals, continuing his excellent goalscoring streak from last season.

– Let him just continue like that. That first goal was especially brilliant, Beljo received the ball nicely and scored. He's working well and everything is coming back to him. As we grow as a team, it will be easier for him too. It makes me happy.

New striker Smail Prevljak wasn't in the squad, but he's registered for the match against Žalgiris.

– He trained with us for the first time on Thursday, he has problems with a finger injury... But he's in good condition, he trained and will compete for upcoming matches – concluded coach Kovačević.