Date: Tuesday 6th
September 2022
Venue: Stadion Maksimir
Kick-off: 17:45 GMT
An early evening
kick-off for us tonight, as we get our 2022/23 Champions League campaign underway
in Croatia against Dinamo Zagreb.
It’s our first
time playing them, and we meet a Dinamo side in fine form, having won the Croatian Super Cup
in July and following that up with an unbeaten start to their season, leaving
them top of HNL. The Croatians have scored 27 goals in their opening eight games, which
is a little concerning given we’ve conceded nine already this season and still
have the same old struggles in front of goal.
Obviously, we’ve been in shocking
form and sit 6th in the Premier League after a win at the weekend that
was apparently begrudged by everyone outside of Chelsea Football Club. Dinamo Zagreb, coincidentally,
beat West Ham in the Europa League last year.
Tonight’s
opponents have had more games than us to find their fitness and form, they’ve
also had an additional day to recover and were able to rest players at the
weekend. We’ve still got new players to bed in and are a way off finding anything
resembling form yet. We had a tough game at the weekend, with a day less to
recover and travel on top of that, so the excuses are all there if we need them…
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s game, Dinamo Zagreb manager Ante Cacic,
says “We are not
favourites in any of our matches but we will have a full stadium and we will
try everything to give our best to compete with Chelsea’s quality and find our
chances. It is a good start to get Chelsea at the first round. They’ve
got many new players, Chelsea now and Chelsea in Nov won’t be the same team. In
my opinion, we have to do what we can to surprise.”
Thomas Tuchel, meanwhile, says “They [Dinamo] are used to winning, it’s
a winning team. They are used to be on the top. That shapes a certain
mentality. They made it through the qualification which is never easy. They
deserve to be here and I’m pretty sure they will plan to play a very technical,
emotional game against us. They have individual quality like always, like every
team of Dinamo Zagreb and any Croatian team. A lot of individual quality.
Upfront they have speed and dribbling, on the wings. They will use the role as
an underdog to over-perform and make us underperform. This will be their plan.
We are aware of that. We are ourselves in a moment where we need to improve, we
are not fully happy with the results, with our performances. We need to take
the next step. It’s Champions League, very exciting. We are very aware what the
challenge is to play in a first match away in a group stage. It’s difficult. It
can end up in complicated situations but I think it’s very important that we
accept it and play a humble match, don’t get stuck in our own expectations. We
will accept the fight and the challenge and then we can also have the belief
and trust we are able to win. We need to perform for sure.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Dinamo Zagreb, there are no injury
concerns.
For Chelsea, N’golo Kante (hamstring) remains
out, and Thiago Silva will be rested. New signings Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and
Denis Zakaria may get some minutes.
TEAMS
ZAGREB (Possible line-up): Livakovic; Ristovski,
Sutalo, Peric, Ljubicic; Spikic, Ademi, Ivanusec, Orsic; Petkovic, Baturina
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Kepa; Fofana, Chalobah, Koulibaly, James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Chilwell; Mount,
Sterling, Havertz
CURRENT FORM (ALL)
ZAGREB: WLWWWW
CHELSEA: WDLWLW
OTHER STUFF
- This is
the first-ever European meeting between Dinamo Zagreb and Chelsea.
- Dinamo
Zagreb are Chelsea’s first-ever Croatian opponent in a competitive match.
- Chelsea
will be the ninth English club to face Dinamo Zagreb in all European
competitions.
- Dinamo
Zagreb have won two of their last three meetings with English opponents.
- Dinamo
Zagreb have won just five of their 42 UEFA Champions League matches.
- Chelsea
have only lost one of their last 11 away games in the UEFA Champions League.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Dinamo Zagreb 1-3 Chelsea
