Rijeka vs Lokomotiva Prediction: Lokos are capabale of making surprises

Rijeka opens the new SuperSport HNL season on Sunday at 19:50 at their stadium Rujevica against Lokomotiva Zagreb. At the press conference, Rijeka coach Zeljko Sopis first referred to the passage to the 3rd round of the Europa League. Rijeka beat Romania's Corvinul 1:0 in a doubleheader and now they will face Swedish team Elfsborg. Lokomotiva are an almost brand-new team as many players left the club and new faces were introduced.

Form: WDDLL

Rijeka missed a great opportunity last season to win the league or at least the National Cup, they failed under pressure in the last several matches of the season. There are a few changes in the lineup for this season, and the biggest blow for them is the transfer of Pjaca to Dinamo Zagreb. As their manager said, the start of the season is important, but right now the main focus is on the international matches, and they are more focused on Elfsbor than on Lokomotiva.

Form: DDLDW

The departure of six football players (Cavlina, Bartolec, Kalaica, Maric, Bubanja, Soticek), and the serious injury of Krivak, limited the coach's space since only Karacic and Zikovic came to Kajzerica from players with tangible first league experience. Only the gifted Canjuga is on the list of injured players, he still has two weeks of recovery ahead of him, but Bazdarić is back in the full rhythm of training. Until recently, the captain, Mateo Maric, will continue his career in Cyprus, and the question arose as to who will inherit the captain's armband. Cabraja has decided - the new captain of Lokos will be the experienced striker Duje Cop! With his approach, game, and goals, 34-year-old Cop deserved that honor and will lead the team in the new season. Lokos are a big unknown in this season, in the second part of the last season they played amazingly, and with similar performances, they can hope for a top 4 finish, but as I said it’s almost a completely new team and we will see how will they perform.

Rijeka are favorites in this encounter as they played very well at their stadium last season and because they won 5 last matches against Lokomotiva in this stadium. Rijeka’s manager might change the starting lineup and rest some players before the match against Elfsborg and I think that Lokomotiva can use that moment to at least score a goal against this difficult opponent.