Dinamo players won the 26th Croatian championship title, and they celebrated it with a 2:1 victory against Varaždin in Maksimir in front of 14,356 spectators in the 32nd round of the championship.
Dinamo’s coach Mario Kovačević returned the trophy to the Maksimir display cases and won the hearts of the Zagreb fans:
– Wonderful feeling, thanks for the congratulations. We thought earlier that we would win first place, there was a small crisis at the beginning of the championship, but now I am happy for all of us, for the fans. Now the Cup final follows.
The most important thing is that we did not depend on anyone, we knew that we would secure the title by winning. I told the boys to play for fun, as they say, it was important for us to celebrate the new title with a victory.
Samir Toplak in front of the Max Sport television cameras laughed and added, alluding to the titles in the fourth, third, second and now in the first league: ‘You have more titles than Guardiola’:
– Thank you to everyone who gave me the chance to lead Dinamo. Dinamo is used to being a champion, it’s not easy in that rhythm, but thanks to everyone. Thanks to the professional staff who do a superb job, everyone on the field is doing a great job. Thanks to the players who are top notch, we coaches can say whatever we want if the players don’t do their part. Tomislav Marić (forward coach, op. a.) was with us from the first day, maybe we could have given him a chance before. He joined more specifically in the tenth, eleventh month and did a superb job. We scored many wonderful goals, I believe there will be more.
He then commented on what he expects in the final of the championship:
– Some young players will get a chance, and others like Ismael Bennacer will also play. These four games will be won by quality young players, I can’t wait to see them in action.
He also referred to some criticisms:
– I’ve been a coach for a long time, I’ve been through a lot, it’s wonderful to be Dinamo’s coach. I’m used to all kinds of things, the noise of the fans, I’ve been through all kinds of things. Dinamo is a club where, if you know how to do your job, quality will emerge. I tried, you can always do better, but I will highlight the professional staff again. Some people may have laughed at me, underestimated me, but I like it. I have proven myself everywhere, I have achieved a lot in my career. All the players are trophy players, we have laid the foundations for Dinamo as champions, now the Cup follows, as well as the Champions League qualifications, we have a lot of work ahead of us.
In his career, he won a large number of trophies:
– In every club, from the fourth league to the first, I coached players who made the best statistics, for example Šego in Varaždin, then Beljo, Hoxha, Stojković, Bakrar, not to mention them all… That is the job of a coach, that should be seen – that he made the most out of each player. We won’t remember the bad times, I’m really happy. Sometimes I look at myself on the screen, I look dissatisfied, they laughed at me, but I like it when I’m underestimated. I’m really happy, I like to socialize, that’s how I am. We will celebrate with the fans, but first we will celebrate by ourselves. I gave the players tomorrow off, they deserved it – concluded Kovačević.
