Sopić on Dinamo: 'I'm Not Stupid, I Know They're a Spaceship'
Dinamo hosts Kauno Žalgiris at Maksimir tonight in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round. The Lithuanian side is led by Croatian coach Željko Sopić.
Dinamo hosts Kauno Žalgiris at Maksimir tonight in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round. The Lithuanian side is led by Croatian coach Željko Sopić.
Dinamo's footballers play the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round against Lithuania's Kauno Žalgiris at Maksimir tonight at 8 PM. The return leg is scheduled for August 11, 2026, in Lithuania, and you can watch the first leg live on MaxSport 1.
If coach Mario Kovačević's side gets past Kauno Žalgiris, they will face Norway's Viking in the Champions League play-offs. Viking won the Norwegian title in 2025, finishing one point ahead of Bodø/Glimt, and in the new season, after 15 matches, they sit second, one point behind the same rivals but with a game in hand. The first legs of the play-offs are scheduled for August 18 and 19, with the return legs on August 25 and 26, 2026.
If they lose to the Lithuanian champions, Dinamo would drop into the Europa League play-offs, where they would not be seeded because the coefficient of the weaker team in the tie is used. There, they would face the winner of the tie between Czech side Hradec Králové and Turkey's Beşiktaş.
Dinamo eliminated Swiss side Thun in the second qualifying round. They drew 1-1 away and won 3-2 at Maksimir for a 4-3 aggregate. Kauno Žalgiris reached the third qualifying round by beating Drita and Klaksvík from the Faroe Islands.
According to Transfermarkt, Dinamo's squad is valued at €65.6 million, while Sopić's team is valued at €9.35 million. "Kauno Žalgiris are not here by chance; they are a serious team. They have our coach who knows us very well. I repeat, we need to improve from game to game. Victory is the goal, the game lasts 90 minutes, but we are aware that another 90 minutes await us away at their place," said Dinamo coach Mario Kovačević to 24sata ahead of the match.
Željko Sopić, who coached Slaven Belupo, Osijek, and briefly sat on Dinamo's bench before moving to Lithuania, did not hide his emotions: "This is a special day for me and some other lads, especially Fiolić. All clubs wanted Kauno Žalgiris, but I only wanted Dinamo. I'm not stupid; I know they are better than us, a spaceship, so to speak. We've beaten all the teams so far, which played a style that doesn't suit us. My coaching staff and I have been with the players for a month, and we know what it means when Dinamo plays at Maksimir, carried by the stands. If we had come here as tourists and wanted to give up, we would have canceled the match and the charter," Sopić told 24sata.
Ahead of the match, Dnevno.hr recalled an anecdote involving Dinamo president Zvonimir Boban and Croatian President Zoran Milanović. Although the details of the story were not fully revealed, the portal claims that Boban 'exposed' President Milanović with one move, adding that he 'understands it better than I do.'
