Slick Dinamo earn Bremen tie
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Article summary
NK Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 NK Domžale (agg: 5-2)
The Croatian club's reward for a convincing two-legged victory is a tie against Germany's Werder Bremen.
Article body
NK Dinamo Zagreb will tackle Werder Bremen for a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage after beating NK Domžale 3-1 to progress with a 5-2 aggregate victory in the second qualifying round.
Testing tie
Last week's 2-1 away win in Slovenia had made the Croatian club firm favourites to win the tie, and two early goals from Ognjen Vukojević (18) and Tomo Šokota (22) meant Dinamo Zagreb's qualification was never in doubt. Dario Zahora reduced arrears on 27, yet Sammir had the final say with the home side's third on the hour to boost confidence ahead of what will be a testing tie against the German giants, with the first leg to be played away next week.
Etto the creator
Domžale actually had the first opportunity of note, Georg Koch producing a super save to deny Zlatan Ljubijankič's close-range effort. That was to prove the high point for the visitors, though, as Vukojević profited from fine interplay between Brazilians Sammir and Etto to make it 1-0 before Šokota headed in an Etto cross soon after. Zahora, a Croatian, left his mark on the match when finding the net with aplomb before the half-hour, as did Sammir when he waltzed through the Domžale defence to settle things with the final and finest goal of the match.