Osijek vs Dinamo Zagreb Prediction: Another derby match for Dinamo

The derby match of the 25th round of Supersport HNL is played at the Opus Arena in Osijek, where Osijek will host Dinamo Zagreb. While the hosts will enter this match after losing to Lokomotiva (1-0) in the quarterfinals of the cup, Dinamo won 4-0 against Gorica in the same stage of that competition. In the league, Dinamo are back in the title race after they won against Rijeka in the last round, while Osijek are trying to remain in the 4th position until the end.

Form: LDWLD

The home team has problems under coach Zoran Zekic. They are playing unconvincingly in 2024, which culminated with knocking out of the Croatian Cup against Lokomotiva on Tuesday. With that, Osijek said goodbye to the dream of winning a trophy this season and it remains to try to preserve the fourth place that leads to Europe. In the 24 league games played, Zoran Zekic's team has a record of 9 wins, 8 draws, and 7 losses, and with 35 points they are the fourth team in the league, 12 points behind the third-placed Dinamo, and 5 points more than Lokomotiva. With 44 goals scored, they are the second most efficient team in the league, right behind Rijeka (47 goals scored).

Form: WWDWW

After knowing the opponent in the round of 16 of the Conference League, Dinamo recorded 2 victories in 2 matches played. First, they beat Rijeka at Maksimir, 1-0 thanks to Fran Brodić's penalty in stoppage time. There was not enough time to celebrate, because the cup competition was already waiting in the middle of the week, where Dinamo celebrated 4-0 against Gorica in a mixed line-up, where goals were scored by Gabrijel Vidovic, Fran Brodic, Sandro Kulenovic, and Luka Vrbancic. With 12 games remaining until the end of the season, Dinamo have a record of 14 wins, 5 draws, and 4 losses, and with 47 points they are the third-placed team in the league. They are 5 points behind the first-placed Hajduk, and 3 points behind the second-placed Rijeka, albeit with a game less. Already in the middle of next week, they have a home match against PAOK in the Conference League, so we can expect a little less pressure from Dinamo in this match because their thoughts will be partly on that match.

In the last 5 meetings between these two teams, Dinamo have a slight advantage with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. The last 2 meetings between them went to Dinamo, and Dinamo's last win was at the end of November last year when they beat Osijek 2-1 at Maksimir. Osijek have often had a recipe for threatening Dinamo's goal lately, and despite a streak of 4 games without a win over Dinamo, I don't expect any changes in that regard. Likewise, counting on the match with PAOK in the Conference League, I believe that Jakirovic will rest some of his key players in this match. This is exactly where I see an opportunity for Osijek to perhaps surprise in this match, and afford the fans some joy this season. Derbies in the HNL used to be hard this season, but this time I could see a handful of goals, just like the last time when Dinamo visited the Opus Arena. That's why it makes sense to bet on the total number of goals, more than 2.5 goals.