Rijeka vs Varazdin Prediction: Can Rijeka recover after the defeat?

Rijeka welcomes Varazdin on Sunday at Rujevica from 5 p.m. Despite the defeat against Dinamo, Rijeka are still in the title race and coach Zeljko Sopic believes in victory and expects a full stadium. Rijeka currently have 2 points less than Hajduk and three points with a game more than Dinamo. Both teams played in the cup matches last week, and Rijeka won against Rudes, while Varazdin lost against Hajduk 5:0 as visitors.

Form: WLWWW

After losing in the derby against Dinamo and advancing to the semi-finals of the cup with a victory against Rudes, Rijeka faces a new challenge. On Sunday, Varazdin will come to Rujevica without several players, and Rijeka cannot allow any setbacks in the fight for the championship title. In this match, Rijeka will not have Toni Fruko and Niko Jankovic, but the manager Sopic have solid replacements and their absence shouldn’t affect the team. Rijeka are in 2nd place and with a win they will take the lead back from Hajduk.

Form: LDLWL

Varazdin managed to get a positive result twice in the last two away games in Rijeka, and in the first match this season it ended 2:2. During the week, they visited Poljud in Split and, despite a good game in the first half, they lost 5:0 against Hajduk. Although they won only against Rudes since the start of the spring part of the season, they proved to be a difficult opponent for everyone. Varazdin travels to Rijeka without Igor Postojnski, Domagoj Drozdek, and Oliver Zelenika, who earned their third yellow card. Marko Dabro served the suspension of the red card he earned against Hajduk in the cup match and will be available for this match Varazdin are in 8th place with 26 points.

Since the last round, Rijeka have been the most watched away team in SuperSport HNL, and at home, they have a record attendance of 6172 spectators per game. Last season, that figure was 4891, and in the championship season 2016/2017 4757, but it should be noted that then there was still no northern stand. The excitement this season is very high as this team is a serious title contender. In this match a full stadium is expected again and I expect Rijeka to dominate in the match in front of their fans and win against weakened Varazdin.