In an open and entertaining match full of swings in the scoreline, it was the Dutch players who celebrated in the end. In the Europa League Matchday 3 fixture, NEC Nijmegen beat Dinamo 4-2 on the Maksimir pitch, in a contest in which the visitors took the lead, the Zagreb side turned the score around, and the Dutch side steered the game back their way in the second half to take the win.

Dinamo threatened as early as the 3rd minute, when Dion Drena Beljo shook off his marker with a neat turn and skilful dribble, then shot low from 17 metres, but the effort wasn't strong enough. Soon after, Iker Almena sent a ball in behind on the right, Luka Stojković raced onto it, reached it before the goalkeeper and managed to lob him, but centre-back Ahmetcan Kaplan leapt and cleared it with his foot right on the goal line.

Sparks first flew in front of the Dinamo goal in the 22nd minute, when Noe Lebreton struck powerfully with his right foot from the left, some twenty metres out, and the ball grazed the crossbar... Three minutes later, though, the net did ripple. Captain Perr Schuurs launched a long, vertical ball from deep in his own half to the right wing, where Tobias Storm raced in at storming pace and curled it towards the “far post”. The ball whizzed across the six-yard box, Clement Bischoff was waiting for it and smashed it into the goal.

Stojković led a counter-attack down the right in the 31st minute and played it left to Beljo, who was alone in front of the goalkeeper but failed to control the ball cleanly. Two minutes later Stojković started another move, this time with a successful ending. On the left, at the edge of the penalty area, he produced a masterful turn and sent a pinpoint, almost remote-controlled ball through the opposition defence. Matteo Perez Vinlöf ran onto it and curled it high to the “far post”, where Beljo dipped low and headed the ball into the net from just above the ground.

It seemed that Dinamo had taken the lead two minutes later, but while Maksimir celebrated what it thought was a goal, a VAR check calmed the passions by showing that it was offside. Beljo received the ball on the right, shrugged off his marker and played a short vertical pass to Niko Galešić, who laid it back from six metres, and Luka Ivanušec smashed it into the net. It was a brilliant move, but an “anticlimax” soon followed as the VAR check showed that Beljo had been offside at the start of the move.

However, VAR could do nothing about the next attack, when Dinamo scored again. This time the Blues really did take the lead. Ivanušec played a through ball for Stojković that split the entire defence, and he managed to slip a pass between two defenders to the right, where Beljo was. The ball took a deflection off the visiting centre-back, and Maksimir's centre-forward collected it at the “far post”. Goalkeeper Gonzalo Crettaz managed to parry the first shot, but the ball fell to Beljo again, and he walked it into the goal.

In the last minute of the first half, the visitors levelled the score. Bischoff crossed from the left, and Bryan Linssen, with a spectacular diving header, sent the ball into the top corner. In the very next move, Linssen latched onto a long ball and knocked Sergi Dominguez off balance, broke through alone in front of goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski and put the ball wide of the goal.

The visitors came out livelier at the start of the second half, pressing Dinamo's defence, with the ball mostly near the home penalty area. NEC's leading goal came from just such a platform in the 54th minute. Linssen crossed from the left, Tjaronn Chery swung and just grazed the ball, which settled calmly into the opposite bottom corner.

In the 61st minute, Beljo played the ball into the box for Ivanušec, who was between two defenders at the top of the six-yard box, but the visiting pair cleared the ball at the last moment.

In the next attack, Kotarski sent a long ball into the opposition half, Stojković escaped the defence and lobbed the goalkeeper, but the ball flew just past the post.

The Blues kept hunting for the equaliser. In the 72nd minute, Dani Rodriguez withstood the challenges of three markers on the right and passed to Josip Mišić, who aimed for the near corner. The goalkeeper managed to parry the ball with some difficulty, then immediately tamed Stojković's attempt from close range as well.

The visitors closed the story with another goal in the 80th minute. It was a long attack: after a cross from the right, Scott McKenna headed the ball clear, Chery collected it 15 metres out and found the opposite top corner with a spectacular left-footed strike.

Rodriguez tried once more in the 83rd minute, striking powerfully towards the near top corner, but the goalkeeper managed to tip it behind for a corner.

Zagreb, 22 October 2026

UEFA Europa League, Matchday 3

Dinamo – NEC Nijmegen 2-4

Maksimir Stadium

Dinamo: Kotarski – Galešić (67. Valinčić), Dominguez, McKenna, Perez Vinlöf (76. Goda) – Mišić; Almena (59. Rodriguez), Stojković, Ivanušec (76. Kačavenda), Hoxha (67. Oršić) – Beljo

Coach: Mario Kovačević

NEC Nijmegen: Crettaz – Schuurs (81. Bras), Kaplan, Fonville (81. Kers) – Storm, Nejašmić, Geiger (76. Monteiro), Bischoff; Chery (90. Willumsson), Lebreton (90. Sierhuis) – Lenssen

Coach: Dick Schreuder

Referee: Manfredas Lukjančukas (Lithuania), Attendance: 12,260

Scorers: 0-1 Bischoff (25'), 1-1 Beljo (33'), 2-1 Beljo (37'), 2-2 Linssen (45'), 2-3 Chery (54'), 2-4 Chery (80')