Shelbourne – Rijeka

The Croatian champion will take a convincing victory away from Dublin.

The most unexpected result in the first matches of the third round of the Europa League qualification took place in Croatia. Irish Shelbourne visited local Rijeka. The Dublin team reached European competitions for the second time in the last twenty years, and did so in the rank of champions of Ireland. However, the level of football in this country is such that the entire squad of the best team in the league is valued at less than 3.5 million euros. In comparison, Rijeka has a similar figure eleven times higher. Neither the specialists nor the fans of both clubs expected Shelbourne to last through the first half, but it ended 0-0 with no shots from the visitors even towards the goal of the Croatian club. In the second half, what professionals should not allow happened. After scoring the first goal of the match from a penalty, the Rijeka players thought the job was done and conceded the first goal just two minutes later, and another twelve minutes after that. Shelbourne won the match 2-1 managing to hit the target of the opponent only twice. Now Rijeka is set on rectifying this injustice, according to all involved with the Croatian club, in Dublin. Bookmakers have made the visitors the favourites for the return match, offering a coefficient of 1.65 for their victory. Rijeka ended Dinamo Zagreb's seven-year hegemony in the last Croatian championship. Both competitors accumulated the same number of points, but Rijeka gained the advantage in head-to-head meetings. The Croatian champion began the European season in the Champions League qualification, where they played evenly with Ludogorets in two matches, but lost to the opponent in extra time of the return match. Rijeka's Saturday match against Osijek in the national league ended in a 0-0 draw with thoughts of the upcoming duel in Dublin. Shelbourne was eliminated from the Champions League qualification, having lost to Qarabag with an aggregate score of 0-4. This result clearly reflects the level of the Irish team. Moreover, the 0-3 defeat to the champions of Azerbaijan occurred on their home ground in Dublin. Most likely, the upcoming match will take place under the overwhelming advantage of the guests and their more serious attitude towards the opponents.