Rijeka defeated Hajduk 3-0 in the eighth round of the SuperSport HNL. The home side’s goals were scored by Tiago Dantas, Samuele Vignato and Daniel Adu-Adjei. Rijeka moved up to 14 points and are currently in fourth place on the table.
Hajduk’s loss opened the door for Dinamo to climb to the top of the table. Hajduk’s coach, Gonzalo Garcia, expressed dissatisfaction with the refereeing decisions after the match. "Do I feel cheated after the goal? I just checked the footage. Marešić had the ball and didn’t see someone coming up behind him. Dantas was in a sprint, three steps inside the pitch when the ball was played. It’s a referee’s mistake, an obvious and big one. And they tell me the VAR shouldn’t intervene in this," said Garcia.
Garcia described the flow of the match. "Up until that moment we were controlling the game. Then in five minutes everything went wrong. We could have fixed it, but we didn’t. At the second goal, I don’t understand that a player from Rijeka hit a Hajduk player in the groin and it wasn’t a foul. We were trying in the second half, we didn’t lose faith. My reaction was a mistake and I received a red card. I said something that isn’t typical for me. I just lost my temper once and received a red card. It’s all part of the game. Two crucial decisions went against us. We have a tough schedule after the break and we must show maturity and take a break," the coach said, congratulating Rijeka while noting that several incidents had disrupted a good game.
The scorer, Tiago Dantas, was happy after the match, but expressed doubt about the regularity of his goal. "I’m happy. We knew how important this match was for us and the people who live for Rijeka. We gave it our all and thank God we got three points. The fans never let us down. They are always with us to the end. Everything is open this season. We are going to achieve our goals this season. Honestly, I think the goal I scored wasn’t fair. The referee told me I could enter the play, but I was offside by 53 seconds, not a minute as prescribed. The ball came to the left side and I scored. I think this isn’t fair. Say whatever you want, but that’s what I think," said Dantas.
Michele Šego reflected on the flow of the match. "We started well and had possession and scored a goal, which was disallowed. There was probably a slight offside. At the first goal, what happened, happened. We have experts who will comment on it. At half-time we agreed to continue as in the first half. One mistake happened to us. A few of us were knocked down to the ground. We have to prepare for the derby during this international break," said Šego.
Hrvoje Horvat, in an interview with Croatian media, analysed the match. "Rijeka clearly has a recipe for Hajduk. They exploited their mistakes. When the defenders are leading the play, it ends up like this. The defenders are used to playing with the ball, but Adu-Adje was pressing them. That’s how Rijeka set up the game and it worked. Kek set up two central midfielders, who held their position very well. Hajduk were beaten 3-0. It wasn’t that Hajduk were outplayed, they had plenty of chances, but Rijeka were more cunning. Hajku cooked themselves the first goal, then at the second goal, the intelligence of Toni Frk was shown, who after the foul and the duel didn’t ask for a yellow card, but for his player in attack. Few players have that, which is why Frk is the best player in the league," concluded Horvat.
