On Sunday night, the “fiery” ones arrived in Zagreb. It wasn’t an ideal situation, as they had not gotten enough sleep, but they had been through worse.

Just half an hour before training began, a rookie was driven by car to meet Dalić. However, Skočić bypassed him and included him in the call-up because he did not play for the club. Beljo had scored three goals for Augsburg in a friendly match against a third division team. He was frustrated that he had been overlooked by any coach and went on holiday to Vinkovci. But then Dalić’s call came on Saturday evening: “We need another striker because we have only Budimir.”

The other players arrived on buses, and Mandžukić and Ćorluka were searching for a suitable field for training. They didn’t want to use the main pitch because assistant Hitrec-Kacian was in poor condition, so Luka Modrić’s field was chosen instead. The Lokomotiva boys who had just finished their match jumped onto Mandža and Čarli for photos, while children from Dinamo’s open school lined the fence as the “hot guys” got off the bus and greeted Livaković and Modrić with cheers.

Dalić commented that everyone did a good job in Riga and that he would not change the lineup unless there was a reason to do so. He kept Kramarić on the field for 80 minutes despite his recovery from injury because he wanted to see how well he performed after being out of action for some time. This shows his commitment to having all of his players available when needed for important matches like Tuesday’s game against Inter Milan at home stadium Maksimir stadium.