Gorica vs Rijeka Prediction: Difficult match in difficult conditions

Since Thursday, the rain has been flooding Turopolje and it seems as if Gorica and Rijeka were destined to play their third game in 2024 on a field more suitable for water polo than football. Their two matches from January and February will be remembered for a long time, when the remaining snow and relentless rain dictated the events according to the "who scores, wins", although both results and defeats of Gorica (2:3, 0:2) were “tailored” by the referees. awarding as many as five penalties against them, of which at least three did not exist or were extremely doubtful and difficult to explain. 

Form: DWLDL

On Wednesday, Gorica lived dangerously in Djakovo, and only with a better shooting of penalties did they eliminate the host from the Croatian Cup and schedule a round-of-16 duel with Varazdin. In the end, after 1:1 in 120 minutes, goalkeeper Karlo Ziger was the hero, who saved Mihael Dogan's shot in the fifth series. In the league, Gorica are in 7th place with 5 wins, and their first win in the league they got in the last round when they defeated Sibenik 2:1 in this stadium. They have a win and 2 draws in this stadium so far, and this is where they will try to gain as many points as possible to avoid relegation.

Form: DLWDW

The team from Kvarner will enter the continuation of the championship, unlike most of the other first league teams (except Osijek), who did little or no shopping before the end of the transfer window, with as many as three new players, two of whom are classic forwards. All that was a kind of issue for Rijeka throughout the last season, and it continued partly in the new one, was a large number of "missed" opportunities, and everyone hopes that by bringing in Perica and Dogan, and a little earlier Andric, that section will also get better. Rijeka had to create significantly more goal-scoring chances than the opponent in order to ultimately be able to count on a favorable outcome, and this was most evident in matches against stronger European teams, where Rijeka weren’t favorites and where they had to use at least some of the fewer chances that they created. Rijeka are in 3rd place, still undefeated in the league with 3 wins and a draw, and with a win here they can get on the 1st place.

If the approach is not right, if Rijeka do not assert itself as a significantly better opponent, they could have problems. Rijeka are a much better team, which now already have a serious roster despite the likely departure of Veldin Hodza, one of the best young players in the league to Russia, but against any team in the HNL, if they are not maximally cautious and motivated, they cannot count on easy points and especially not against Gorica who are playing very strong at home. Considering everything I expect a match with not too many goals and a narrow win for Rijeka.