Champions League:

RB Salzburg against Dinamo Zagreb from 9pm LIVE

Maurits Kjaergaard (r.) and Mads Bidstrup

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Matchday 3 in the Champions League: Red Bull Salzburg host Dinamo Zagreb. We will be reporting live from 9pm, see ticker below.

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When Dinamo Zagreb visit Salzburg in the Champions League today, an old acquaintance will be on the touchline with the Croatians. Nenad Bjelica spent ten years of his playing and coaching career in Austria, but he is still waiting for a win against Salzburg. The 53-year-old, whose family lives in Klagenfurt, has traveled a lot. Last season, he made himself a "problem case" with a slap against Bayern's Leroy Sane.

Bjelica felt provoked by Sane at the home game against Bayern in January and aggressively grabbed the striker in the face on the touchline. He was banned for three games by the DFB sports tribunal and Union discussed a separation. However, Bjelica was allowed to stay and managed to stay in the league with Christopher Trimmel's team. That was not enough to extend the contract of the "fireman", who succeeded Urs Fischer in November 2023.

Nenad Bjelica

(Bild: AFP)

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In the summer, he docked with Dinamo for the second time since 2018 until 2020, making it the eleventh coaching stint for the man from Osijek. Bjelica acquired a taste for the game in Austria. The midfield strategist used the knowledge he had acquired in Spain (including at Betis Sevilla and Albacete) and at 1. FC Kaiserslautern as an active player for two seasons each at Admira and FC Kärnten. He then started his coaching career at Wörthersee and finally made his way to WAC via Austria Lustenau, where his career really took off.

Bjelica rose from the regional to the national league with Wolfsberg and was rewarded with a job at Vienna's Austria in 2013. He led the Violets to the Champions League, but had to leave after a slump in results in the spring of 2014. Bjelica then sought his salvation at Italian second division club Spezia. This engagement also ended prematurely, as did the following one with Lech Poznan in Poland.

His first appearance at Dinamo, on the other hand, was quite successful. Although this also ended before his contract expired after one and a half seasons, it was due to internal turbulence at the club and a lack of results. Bjelica has two league titles and a place in the last sixteen of the Europa League to his name. No wonder that Dinamo were happy to make another move at the end of September after three defeats en suite - including the 2:9 against Bayern Munich. Rene Poms, always at Bjelica's side since the WAC days, is no longer there. The Styrian is now trying his hand as head coach in Greece's second division.

Bjelica feels appreciated in his Croatian homeland, but apparently did not feel the respect in the German Bundesliga. He is convinced that he was sold short. "In any case. From day one," he recently said on sport1, referring to over 600 games as a coach and four CL appearances with Dinamo (twice), Austria and Union. But he would always try again. And he believes he has a chance. "I'm sure I'll make it back to the Bundesliga."

Some consider Bjelica, whose son and mental coach Luka also appears on the Dinamo coaching staff, to be not modern enough. "I respect the new generation of coaches, I just think they analyze too much," he told Sportbild. He doesn't believe in too much video analysis. "You shouldn't overdo it, you shouldn't constantly overload the players with too much information."

In any case, no major analysis is needed to calculate Bjelica's record against Salzburg. In seven games with the WAC and Austria, his teams have lost six times, once drawing 1-1 with the Carinthians.