The first match was "poor", without goals, but they more than made up for it in the return leg... After the 0-0 at Maksimir, Sparta and Dinamo drew in the second match as well, but with a completely inverse picture, with intense action in front of both goals and as many as six goals... Mario Mandžukić's slalom run from the touchline to the penalty area, and especially Dejan Lovren's juggling run where he skilfully dribbled past the entire defence and initiated the blues' second goal... There were many interesting sequences in that entertaining football evening in Prague. The final score was 3-3, which meant that the Zagreb team qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Cup competition, today's Europa League, for the second consecutive season.

In the competition structure itself, this was officially the 1st round, although in practice it was the final qualifying round before the group stage. Injured Mathias Chago and Etto were absent from the Prague match... Dinamo played from the 12th minute without goalkeeper Tomislav Butina, who was replaced due to injury by the then young Ivan Kelava.

The blues secured their passage to the group stage with inspired play from the entire team, but primarily thanks to the rampant Mihael Mikić, who troubled Sparta's entire left defensive side, the blazing Mario Mandžukić, who thundered through the defence with his slalom runs, and, of course, the man of the match, the then 19-year-old Lovren.

Dinamo took the lead after 16 minutes of play when Mikić twisted past a defender, crossed in front of goal, Mandžukić shot into a block, and Pedro Morales torpedoed the rebound from 25 metres into the net. The wake-up call came after just two and a half minutes. Marek Kulič equalised with a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area. Just four minutes later, the Prague side were already in the lead. Jiří Kladrubsky scored with a lob from about twenty metres. The ball grazed the bottom of the crossbar and still bounced behind the goal line.

The blues' return to the game was again initiated by the "blossoming" Mikić, but the biggest applause goes to - Lovren. Mikić again twisted past a defender, turned towards Lovren, and he juggled skilfully with the ball, dribbling past as many as three opposition players, set up Mandžukić whose shot the goalkeeper managed to save, but only to Lovren, who pushed it into the net from three metres. In the 64th minute, Mandžukić broke down the left side, fired towards goal, the home goalkeeper saved again, but Milan Badelj ran up and easily pushed it into the net. Sparta equalised in the 81st minute from the penalty spot after the ball hit Ivica Vrdoljak's hand in the penalty area. Kladrubsky scored from the spot.