Dinamo Zagreb v Salzburg background
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Article summary
Salzburg will be out to extend their perfect record against Dinamo Zagreb to five wins when they visit the Croatian capital for the first leg of the teams' play-off tie.
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Article body
Dinamo Zagreb will look to end a four-game winless run against Salzburg as the Croatian and Austrian titleholders meet in the UEFA Champions League play-offs.
Previous meetings
• Krunoslav Jurčić's Dinamo lost 3-2 on aggregate to Huub Stevens' Salzburg in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. Under Zoran Mamić, they then succumbed 4-2 away and 5-1 at home to Adi Hütter's Salzburg in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League group stage.
• Salzburg striker Jonatan Soriano scored a hat-trick in that 5-1 win, which remains the club's joint-biggest away victory in UEFA competition.
• Dinamo's record in 13 games against Austrian sides is W3 D4 L6 (W2 D1 L3 at home – W1 D3 L3 in Austria).
Match background
• Dinamo have won all four of their UEFA Champions League qualifiers this season in the course of eliminating Vardar and Dinamo Tbilisi.
• Dinamo's record in four UEFA Champions League play-off ties is W3 L1; they eliminated Malmö (2011/12), Maribor (2012/13) and Skënderbeu (2015/16) but fell foul of Salzburg's domestic rivals Austria Wien (2013/14).
• Salzburg have won all four of their UEFA Champions League qualifiers this season without conceding, knocking out Liepāja and Partizani Tirana en route to the play-offs.
• Salzburg have yet to win a UEFA Champions League play-off tie, bowing out to Malmö (2014/15), Hapoel Tel-Aviv (2010/11) and Maccabi Haifa (2009/10) in their three previous attempts.
Team and coach links
• Salzburg's Brazilian defender Paulo Miranda turns 28 on the day of the first leg.
• Salzburg boast Croatian talent in the form of 19-year-old defender Duje Ćaleta-Car, who moved to Austria after impressing in Croatia's second division with Šibenik in 2012/13.
• Dinamo's Gordon Schildenfeld spent the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons with Austrian club Sturm Graz, scoring three goals in 70 league appearances.
• Dinamo's 19-year-old midfielder Ante Ćorić joined the club after a spell in Salzburg's academy.
Coach profiles
• A striker for Dinamo from 1973 to 1983, Zlatko Kranjčar – father of Niko – took charge of the club for a third time this summer. He has lifted national titles as a player (1981/82) and a coach (1995/96) with his home-town side and more recently won the 2011/12 Iranian championship as Sepahan boss.
• Kranjčar is well known in Austria, having scored 119 goals in 240 games for Rapid Wien, later coaching Austria Klagenfurt and Linz.
• A midfielder – and later youth coach – at Barcelona, Salzburg's Spanish coach Óscar García has managed abroad with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Brighton & Hove Albion and Watford, and led Salzburg to the Austrian title in his first campaign in charge in 2015/16.