Istra 1961 vs Gorica Prediction: Istra are slight favorite in this difficult duel

Istra 1961 and Gorica will meet in the 2nd round of the HNL after the hosts were outclassed in Maksimir 5-0 in the first, and Gorica drew with Varazdin in the only match without a goal in the previous round. The hosts are a slight favorite in this match, but this will be a very difficult and tight match between two teams that know each other very well.

Form: LDWLD

The Istrians work diligently on the football market, and they have brought back a well-known name in their ranks, especially in Pula. In 2016, Marcel Heister went to Beitar Jerusalem for a whopping 500,000 euros and thus in some way "saved" the then first league team, and now eight years later he returned to strengthen Paolo Tramezzani's team by signing a contract until 2026. At the age of 32, he can now say that he has 41 appearances in the Israeli first league, 102 in the HNL, and even 122 in Hungary's strongest football rank. Among the new names are Gagua, Ferro, Keller, Beyatt Lekoueiry, and others, and the former Hajduk strategist will have a job playing all the new names among the Green and Yellows. However, in the first round, they were embarrassed by Dinamo 5:0, and now they will try to make it up to their fans against Gorica.

Form: DWDLW

The team from Velika Gorica have strengthened themselves with the former Dinamo players. Left-back Ante Susak and two Velika Gorica natives, midfielder Vito Caic and forward Toni Majic, arrived on loan from Dinamo, while 20-year-old stopper Jakov Gurlica signed a one-year contract with Gorica after breaking up with Dinamo. Ante Matej Juric will replace the jersey of Gorica with that of Brescia. Gorica showed that they certainly don't want to reach the relegation zone again, although we didn't see anything that particularly intrigued us in the match against Varazdin.

Although both teams have made some changes in this transfer window, they know each other well. In total, they played as many as 29 matches, until the last one at the end of May last year when Gorica won with the player more with a score of 2-0. Istra came out as winners six times, Gorica twice as many times, and the rest of the matches ended in a draw. In the preparatory matches, both of them had different matches and results, just like in the last matches of the last season, but now the new season has started, with new names and new ambitions. In their last 5 matches, the results were under 2.5 goals, and we can expect something similar in this match as well.