Maccabi Tel Aviv will face their second ever Croatian opponent in European play this evening and to better get an idea about the club, their fans and what to expect the Official Website spoke to Tin Zaja, a sports journalist who covers Hakduk Split and knows them top to bottom.
Zaja began by looking at Split’s expectations for the season ahead: “The Club’s expectations are European places, nothing more, nothing less. However, the Club can’t be a part of the title challenge, as it lacks experienced players with quality, like Rijeka and what Dinamo have.”
He also took a look at their fans which is a huge part of the club’s success and aura: “Hajduk has the weirdest fans in the world, some of them, a few thousand are always with the club and will cheer for them no matter what. Other fans are gloryhunters, and that’s a long-term problem for the club which has 40,000 members, the largest fan base in Croatia. With that amount they would be one of the largest in Bundesliga, which is a great piece of information. But the key here is to retain those numbers in years to follow.”
Even though Hajduk Split features few current National Team players including keeper Lovre Kalinić, there are others that need to be watched carefully: “Tino Sušić (CM) and Nikola Vlašić (AML/R) along with Franck Ohandza (ST) coming off of the bench provide quality to the side.”
What’s to be expected by the Maccabi fans at the Netanya Stadium on Thursday night and at Split in the return leg? “Hajduk’s traveling supporters are really loud, but there will be less than a hundred of them, as the trip is a bit far. Home support will be something else, especially if Hajduk come away with a good result in Israel. Maccabi fans will not be able to hear themselves if they travel to Split.”
