This season, Dinamo Zagreb is not doing well. The team from the Croatian capital failed to qualify for either the Champions League or the Europa League. The Croatian champion's performance in the Conference League was very mixed. They only managed to defeat Kazakhstan's Astana twice and Kosovo's Balkan once. They lost twice to Viktoria Plzen, who scored the maximum number of points in the group.
Heorhii Bushchan. Photo by D.RudenkoHajduk leads the Croatian league by 7 points, but Zagreb has two games in hand. In terms of points lost, they are only minus one, but in three matches against Hajduk, Dinamo have drawn only once and scored one goal.
"Dinamo Zagreb lives off the sale of players. That's why every season they sell someone. This summer, the long-time goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic finally left. The Croatian goalkeeper was wooed by Villarreal, Bayern Munich, and Ajax, but the transfer took place only to Turkish side Fenerbahce for €6.6 million. It is clear that the failure to qualify for the Champions League and Europa League led to the sale of more than one player. It was also necessary to get rid of players with high salaries.
The leader of Croatian football is used to losing players. They were used to the work of losses and their replacement. They more or less understood who had to go and prepared a potential replacement. In the case of Livaković, it so happened that there is no proper alternative to him. Ivan Nevistich frankly did not impress. At the age of 25, he cannot be included in the list of promising or high-quality goalkeepers. It got to the point where the goal was defended by 36-year-old Daniel Zagorach.
The loss of the goalkeeper led to a serious loss of results. "Dinamo Zagreb failed in the autumn campaign of the European Cups and risks losing the Croatian championship title for the first time in many years. The defence does not feel confident, because not everything is calm at the back. The goalkeeper is not helping out. A defeat against Balkani from Kosovo is not necessary. 4 goals in Prague from Sparta after a 3-1 home win over the Czechs.
Many say that Georgiy Bushchan may leave Dynamo Kyiv and be sold in the near future. He is already in his 30s and has a big salary. For Dynamo Kyiv, Georgiy Bushchan is as important as Dominik Livakovic. This is experience, class at the last line, which is so important for the result. The possible loss of Bushchan could have a very serious impact on the already unconvincing results of the Kyiv team, or on the prospect of returning to a high level of performance. There must be young players who will provide experience and stability.
Unlike Dinamo Zagreb, Dynamo Kyiv has a potential replacement at the goalkeeper position - Ruslan Neshcheret. But when he played, he didn't quite convince me that he was ready for this role. He clearly lacks the game tone. The recipe for reliability is: young goalkeeper + young defence = big risk.
Serhii Tyshchenko
