Although qualification for the Champions League play-off is secured, the win in Lithuania has given Dinamo a new headache. Filipović's red card and unconvincing performances have raised the question of who will be in goal against Viking, and the return of Dominik Livaković in just six days seems like an impossible mission.
Dinamo has cleared the second European hurdle of the season. After Swiss side Thun, Kauno Žalgiris fell in Lithuania. Although qualification for the Champions League play-off round was already secured after the 5-0 win in Zagreb, no one from Dinamo's expedition in Kaunas returned with a full smile, despite another 2-1 victory and an additional boost to the national coefficient.
Coach Mario Kovačević's players showed their class early on and took a 2-0 lead with goals from Kačavenda and Mišić, but in the 33rd minute came the shock. Goalkeeper Filipović was sent off in a rather baffling manner. At that moment, Dinamo had a 7-0 aggregate lead and everything seemed calm, but the problems were just beginning.
Filipović was already under scrutiny before this match, his saves not inspiring confidence, and now, with a moment of sheer carelessness, he practically sealed his own fate. Ivan Nevistić came on and put in a solid performance, but it's clear he's not the long-term solution. His confidence isn't at its peak, and remember, in the spring he was the club's third-choice keeper and spent half the summer contemplating a move abroad. In the most important match of the season against Norway's Viking, he would once again be expected to stand between the posts.
On August 18, Zagreb's side will battle for a place in the Champions League and roughly €30 million at Maksimir. They've already earned between €12 and €15 million, but the impression is that at Maksimirska 128, they're still gambling. Against Thun, they were lucky with Bürki's red card, but it's hard to believe the club's hierarchy will rely solely on luck again and play Russian roulette.
The saga surrounding the return of national team goalkeeper Dominik Livaković has dragged on for weeks. From Turkish club Fenerbahçe, they've made it clear: "Dinamo has not sent a single official offer for Livaković." Now that the financial situation is more stable, the question arises whether the club's leaders, Boban, Dabac, and Capellas, have really pushed hard enough for his return.
It's believed that heads are not running hot at Maksimir, but everyone knows that Livaković is needed by this team, as a leader, a quiet presence in the dressing room, and above all, as a player of international quality. Whether they'd pay three, four, or five million euros for him, his arrival would pay off manifold, either through Champions League qualification or through saves in the Europa League.
Fans still dream and long for the return of their idol, and Livaković himself wants to come home. While the management has spent days bringing in young prospects like Nsoki, negotiating for Russian midfielder Kirill Kravtsov, and securing the arrival of Junior Brumado, the cornerstone of the whole story, the first-choice goalkeeper, remains unresolved.
Will Nevistić be in goal for the play-off? Quite possibly, as he is ahead of Danijel Zagorac in the pecking order, which was confirmed by his introduction before Zagorac in Kaunas. Or will Dinamo's leaders finally heat up the lines to Istanbul and go all-in for Livaković? If they want him in goal as early as the Viking match, they have just six days.
The rules allow the registration of two new players for the play-off round up until the day before the match, i.e., until Monday at 23:59. Are Boban, Dabac, and Capellas embarking on an impossible mission? Everything is open. Maybe they'll play red or black once more and luck will smile on them again, but one thing is certain, the search for a first-choice goalkeeper will have to continue until the end of the summer.
