After a successful start to the season’s continuation with a 3-0 victory in the Cup match against Slavija, we open the spring part of the championship tomorrow with an away game against our great rival, Željezničar.
Zrinjski enters the second part of the season as the second-placed team in the WWin League, trailing the leaders Borac by seven points. Meanwhile, our tomorrow’s opponent awaits the spring in an unexpectedly low position, having gathered only nineteen points in eighteen matches during the autumn, placing them in the tenth position.
This will be our 54th league match against Željezničar, with an interesting statistic showing an equal number of victories – 21 each. In the first part of the season, we secured a 2-1 victory with a comeback engineered by Slobodan Jakovljević (78′) and Petar Mišić (92′). The last time we visited Grbavica was back in the autumn of 2022 when we defeated them 1-0 with a goal from Mario Tičinović under the management of Sergej Jakirović.
Željezničar enters the spring with a new coach, as Abdulhakeem Al-Tuwaijri succeeded Bruno Akrapović, along with a significant number of new players. Among them are Samir Radovac, who previously played for Sarajevo and Velež in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Harun Karić, who made a name for himself wearing the FK Tuzla City jersey, and Amer Hiroš, who returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina after his spell with Croatian top-flight club Osijek.
The match at Grbavica is scheduled for tomorrow at 4:00 PM, officiated by referee Ermin Sivac from Zenica. However, Željko Petrović will be without Tarik Ramić due to yellow card accumulation.
