The central part of the preparations in Sveti Martin na Muri will conclude today with a friendly match against Slaven Belupo for Mario Ivanković’s team.
The match against the Croatian top-tier team will be played at the stadium of lower-league club NK Tehničar in Cvetkovec, a small place near Koprivnica. After the game, the Nobles will head straight to Mostar to complete the final phase of their preparations before the new season.
Following matches against Vllaznia (0:1), Lokomotiva (1:3), and Zorya (2:1), this will be the fourth of five planned friendlies in the preparations.
“What we’ve been saying from the start is that the most important thing is to be in the desired form on July 25th when we play our first European match. The results in the friendly matches are not the priority; the most important thing is to see that we are progressing from game to game towards our goals,” said Zrinjski’s coach Mario Ivanković.
“After the first two tests where no one played more than 45 minutes, which was planned, we gave some players 60-65 minutes against Zorya. We saw a lot of good things in that match, and I believe it will be the same against Slaven Belupo,” Ivanković added.
Fran Topić, who was injured in the match against Lokomotiva, will not be available for today’s game, and it is expected that Frano Mlinar, the midfielder who joined the Nobles in Sveti Martin na Muri, will make his unofficial debut.
After returning to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zrinjski will play one more friendly match before their first European challenge on July 18th, when FK Željezničar will test the Nobles’ form.
