2018–19 GNK Dinamo Zagreb season
# 2018–19 GNK Dinamo Zagreb season

The 2018–19 season is Dinamo Zagreb's 28th season in the Croatian First Division and 106th year in existence as a football club. The season covers the period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

Dinamo will be defending their title as league champions, as well as their title as cup winners. They will also compete in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, entering the second qualifying round.

The club's manager is Nenad Bjelica, who will be in his first full-season with the club.

## Review

### Pre-season

On 23 June, Dinamo played their first friendly match of the pre-season, beating Macedonian side Rabotnički Skoplje, winning 4–0, with Mario Šitum (2), Dino Perić and Antonio Marin scoring the goals. Five days later, on 28 June, Dinamo played Azerbaijani side Qabala, winning 2–0, with Ivan Šunjić and Antonio Marin scoring the goals. The following players officially joined the club: Emir Dilaver (from Lech Poznań), Damian Kądzior (from Górnik Zabrze), Marin Leovac (from PAOK) and Mislav Oršić (from Uslan Hyundai), Lovro Majer (from feeder-club NK Lokomotiva) and Kévin Théophile-Catherine (from AS Saint-Étienne). The following players left the club: Borna Sosa (to Stuttgart), Ante Ćorić (to Roma) and El Arabi Hillal Soudani (to Nottingham Forrest) and the club will earn a combined €18m from their transfers. On 3 July, Dinamo trashed Austria Klagenfurt in a 6–1 win; with Armin Hodžić, Ivan Šunjić, Izet Hajrović, Filip Benković, Luka Menalo and Amer Gojak scoring one goal each. A day later, on 4 July, Dinamo beat Triglav 4–0 with Mario Šitum, Ivan Fiolić, Dani Olmo and Mario Budimir scoring the goals. Three days later, on 7 July, Dinamo beat Polish side Cracovia following Kamil Pestka's own goal in the 90th minute of the game. On 18 July, Dinamo drew 0–0 with feeder-team Sesvete. This was followed by a 2–1 away win over Varaždin in the last friendly game of the season, with goals from Armin Hodžić and Dino Perić, on 20 July.

### July

On 24 July, in the first leg of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League second qualifying phase, Dinamo beat Israeli club Hapoel Be'er Sheva by a scoreline of 5–0, despite media outlets calling Dinamo the underdogs of the match, as Hapoel had reached a historic 3–2 win over Inter Milan in the UEFA Europa League just two years prior. Dinamo won with goals coming from Izet Hajrović, Mislav Oršić, Arijan Ademi (2) and Armin Hodžić, taking a 5–0 lead into the second leg. On 28 July, in the first league match of the season, Dinamo drew 1–1 with Rudeš, initially going 0–1 down following Sadegh Moharrami's own goal, but a late equalizing goal from Dino Perić was enough to prevent defeat. In the second leg of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions second qualifying phase against Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Dinamo went 0–2 down by half-time, following a goal from John Ogu and Petar Stojanović's own goal. Dinamo eventually managed to draw the game 2–2 with goals from Mario Budimir and Izet Hajrović, confirming Dinamo's advancement into the next stage of the tournament qualifying phase.

### August

On 3 August, Dinamo beat Istra 1961 by a scoreline of 3–0; with two goals from Mario Gavranović and one goal from Marin Leovac. On 7 August, Dinamo beat Kazakhstani champions Astana in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, winning 2–0 with goals from Mario Budimir and Dani Olmo, despite being considered underdogs prior to the match. On 9 August, Dinamo Zagreb confirmed that Filip Benković signed for Premier League club Leicester City, in a fee in the region of £13m.

## Squad information

### First-team squad

    As of 8 August 2018

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | CRO | Danijel Zagorac |
| 2 | DF | IRN | Sadegh Moharrami |
| 3 | DF | CRO | Mario Musa |
| 5 | MF | MKD | Arijan Ademi (Captain) |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Dani Olmo |
| 8 | MF | BIH | Izet Hajrović |
| 9 | FW | CRO | Mario Budimir |
| 10 | MF | CRO | Lovro Majer |
| 11 | FW | SUI | Mario Gavranović |
| 12 | GK | CRO | Dinko Horkaš |
| 13 | DF | KOS | Amir Rrahmani |
| 14 | MF | BIH | Amer Gojak |
| 16 | MF | CRO | Mario Šitum |
| 17 | MF | BIH | Luka Menalo |
| 18 | MF | CRO | Antonio Marin |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | FW | CRO | Bruno Petković |
| 22 | DF | CRO | Marin Leovac |
| 27 | MF | CRO | Nikola Moro |
| 28 | DF | FRA | Kévin Théophile-Catherine |
| 30 | DF | SVN | Petar Stojanović |
| 31 | DF | CRO | Marko Lešković |
| 34 | MF | CRO | Ivan Šunjić |
| 40 | GK | CRO | Dominik Livaković |
| 55 | DF | CRO | Dino Perić |
| 66 | DF | AUT | Emir Dilaver |
| 77 | DF | ROU | Alexandru Mățel |
| 92 | MF | POL | Damian Kądzior |
| 97 | MF | CRO | Bojan Knežević |
| 99 | MF | CRO | Mislav Oršić |

## Transfers

### Transfers In

| Start Date | Position | Name | Age | Type | Notes | Fee | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Emir Dilaver | 27 | Transfer (from Lech Poznań) | Permanent transfer. | €1,500,000 | |
| 1 July 2018 | LW | Mislav Oršić | 25 | Transfer (from Ulsan Hyundai FC) | Permanent transfer. | €1,500,000 | |
| 1 July 2018 | LB | Marin Leovac | 26 | Transfer (from P.A.O.K.) | Permanent transfer. | €500,000 | |
| 1 July 2018 | CM | Damian Kądzior | 26 | Transfer (from Górnik Zabrze) | Permanent transfer. | €500,000 | |
| 1 July 2018 | AM | Lovro Majer | 20 | Transfer (from NK Lokomotiva) | Permanent transfer. | €2,500,000 | |
| 1 July 2018 | CB | Kévin Théophile-Catherine | 28 | Transfer (from AS Saint-Étienne) | Permanent transfer. | Free | |
| | Total | Total | Total | Total | €6,500,000 | €6,500,000 | €6,500,000 |

### Transfers Out

| Start Date | Position | Name | Age | Type | Notes | Fee | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 July 2018 | LB | Borna Sosa | 20 | Transfer (to Stuttgart) | Permanent transfer. | €8,000,000 | |
| 1 July 2018 | AM | Ante Ćorić | 21 | Transfer (to Roma) | Permanent transfer. | €6,000,000 | |
| 1 July 2018 | RW | El Arabi Hillal Soudani | 30 | Transfer (to Nottingham Forrest) | Permanent transfer. | €2,300,000 | |
| 9 August 2018 | CB | Filip Benković | 21 | Transfer (to Leicester City) | Permanent transfer. | €14,000,000 | |
| | Total | Total | Total | Total | €30,300,000 | €30,300,000 | €30,300,000 |

### Loans Out

| Start Date | Position | Name | Age | Type | Notes | Fee | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 9 August 2018 | GK | Adrian Šemper | 20 | Transfer (to Chievo) | One-year deal. | N/A | |
| | Total | Total | Total | Total | N/A | N/A | N/A |

## Competitions

### Overall

| Competition | Started round | Current position / round | First match | Last match |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Prva HNL | — | — | 28 July 2018 | 25 May 2019 |
| Croatian Cup | First round | — | TBD | |
| UEFA Champions League | Second qualifying round | Third qualifying round | 24–25 July 2018 | |

Updated to match played August 2018 Source: Competitions

### Overview

| Competition | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Competition | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Prva HNL | 36 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 74 | 20 | +54 | 080.56 |
| Croatian Cup | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 080.00 |
| UEFA Champions League | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 050.00 |
| UEFA Europa League | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 060.00 |
| Total | 57 | 42 | 9 | 6 | 111 | 36 | +75 | 073.68 |

Updated to match played 26 May 2019 Source: Competitions

### Prva HNL

**Table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb (C) | 36 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 74 | 20 | +54 | 92 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Rijeka | 36 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 70 | 36 | +34 | 67 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Osijek | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 61 | 36 | +25 | 62 | Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round |
| 4 | Hajduk Split | 36 | 17 | 11 | 8 | 59 | 39 | +20 | 62 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Gorica | 36 | 17 | 8 | 11 | 57 | 46 | +11 | 59 | |

* ↑ Rijeka qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round by winning the 2018–19 Croatian Football Cup. As a result, the spot awarded to the runners-up (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed to the third-placed team, and the spot awarded to the third-placed team (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the fourth-placed team.
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Osijek 7 pts, Hajduk Split 4 pts.

**Summary**

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

Last updated: 26 May 2019. Source:

**By matchday**

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ground | H | H | H | H | H | H | A | H | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | D | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | W |
| Position | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

**Matches**

Win  Draw  Loss

### Croatian Cup

Win  Draw  Loss

### UEFA Champions League

Win  Draw  Loss

### Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | DZG | FEN | SPT | AND |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 14 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 4–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 |
| 2 | Fenerbahçe | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 8 | Advance to knockout phase | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Spartak Trnava | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 7 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 |
| 4 | Anderlecht | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 3 | | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | — |

## Statistics

### Goalscorers

| No. | Pos. | Name | League | Cup | Europe | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 99 | LW | Mislav Oršić | 6 | 2 | 5 | 13 |
| 21 | CF | Bruno Petković | 9 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
| 7 | AM | Dani Olmo | 8 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| 11 | CF | Mario Gavranović | 9 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
| 8 | RW | Izet Hajrović | 4 | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| 9 | ST | Mario Budimir | 5 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 92 | RW | Damian Kadzior | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| 5 | DM | Arijan Ademi | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 14 | AM | Amer Gojak | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 | CF | Komnen Andrić | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 | CB | Amir Rrahmani | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 27 | DM | Nikola Moro | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | CB | Marko Lešković | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | CF | Armin Hodžić | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 55 | CB | Dino Perić | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 34 | DM | Ivan Šunjić | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 | LW | Mario Šitum | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | LB | Marin Leovac | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 28 | CB | Kévin Théophile-Catherine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | LB | Mario Musa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 66 | CB | Emir Dilaver | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | LW | Iyayi Atiemwen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | AM | Lovro Majer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |

### Clean Sheets

| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | League | Cup | Europe | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | | Danijel Zagorac | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |

### Disciplinary Record

| No. | Pos. | Name | League | League | Cup | Cup | Europe | Europe | Total | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 15 | CF | Armin Hodžić | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | AM | Ivan Fiolić | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 31 | CB | Marko Lešković | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 | CM | Ivan Šunjić | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | RW | Izet Hajrović | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | AM | Amer Gojak | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | RB | Petar Stojanović | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | DM | Arijan Ademi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | LB | Marin Leovac | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0 |

## Sponsorship

* Lana Group (front shirt sponsors)
* Ban Tours
* Coca-Cola
* Euroherc
* VIP
* Hrvatski Telekom
* Mlinar
* Ožujsko
* Cammeo
* Franck
* adidas (kit manufacturers)
