Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal: the under 19s game and prelims about the big boys.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Tony Attwood

Getting information the Uefa Youth League match that kicks off at 3pm is tough, but I’ll offer what I can.  If you have more please do let me know.

Arsenal.com is making much of the inclusion in the squad of Tolaji Bola who played for the under 18s last season, and is now in the under 19s at the age of 16.  Arsenal’s site say of him he is “Strong in the air and tough in the tackle, he is also composed with the ball at his feet and comfortable playing out from the back.”

He is an England youth international, at under-16 level.

With the Youth League, as with other competitions the clubs have to submit their list of eligible players, and Arsenal’s list includes Dan Crowley who is on loan at Barnsley.  Two players who had some registration problems (Donyell Malen and Vlad Dragomir) are included in the list, but according to some reports, again which I can’t find definitive confirmation of, Dragomir has suffered a serious injury.

Julio Pleguezuelo and Alex Iwobi are in the squad, and so to is Jeff Reine-Adelaide who we saw at the Emirates Cup.

Krystian Bielik (who looked excellent when I saw him in the under 21s) is also in the 37 man squad.

  • Agyei-Tabi,
  • Bennacer,
  • Benson,
  • Bielik,
  • Bola, M
  • Bola, T
  • Chatzitheodoridis,
  • Crowley,
  • Da Graca,
  • Dasilva,
  • Dragomir,
  • Eyoma,
  • Fortune,
  • Gilmour,
  • Hinds,
  • Howard,
  • Huddart,
  • Iwobi,
  • Johnson,
  • Keto,
  • Malen,
  • Mavididi,
  • Moore,
  • Mourgos,
  • Nelson.
  • Nketiah,
  • O’Connor,
  • Osei-Tutu,
  • Perrin,
  • Pileas,
  • Pleguezuelo,
  • Reine-Adelaide,
  • Robinson,
  • Sheaf,
  • Smith-Rowe,
  • Tella,
  • Willock,
 And that I am sorry to say, is about all I have on the game.  At least I am not alone in this problem, as a lot of sites proclaim they have a preview and lead one to a blank page.
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So I am going to start on tonight’s match and we can come back to the under 19s if any more info is available.
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At the weekend the result was, according to the report I saw, “a saunter in the park.”
Lokomotiva Zagreb 0-4 Dinamo Zagreb (Ángelo Henríquez 36 64, Junior Fernandes 70, Leonardo Sigali 74)
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The form guide (all competitions, most recent first) for Dinamo looks a bit fearsome too although our form isn’t that far behind.
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Dinamo: WWWDWW
Arsenal: WWDWLW
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Perhaps a bit more concerning is that Dinamo are not just the Croatian champions but are 41 games unbeaten in all competitions.  They’ll be signing “49” soon – unless of course we can do the business tonight.   Last season they became the first team to go through a Prva Liga campaign unbeaten.
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We last played them in the 2006/7 season in the third qualifying round and won 3-0 at the Ems and 2-1 at Dinamo’s ground
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The team in Zagreb was:
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Almunia, Eboué, K Touré, Djourou, Hoyte (Flamini 80), Hleb, Fàbregas, Gilberto Silva, Rosický (Flamini 82), Adebayor (Aliadière 82), Van Persie.
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Dinamo have played four times in the group stages of the Champs League but never won through, and have the same problem in making it on to the next round in the Europa and the Uefa cup.   In 2012/13 they lost every game, and only managed their first goal in the last game of the group phase.
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To get into the group stage they beat KF Skënderbeu 6-2 on aggregate, and overall have only scored four goals in 12 Champions League games – with the last win coming in 1999/2000 against Sturm Graz.
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All the games Dinamo have played against English clubs have ended in defeat.
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Our record is a bit better: 18 consecutive years in the group stages, and we have made it through to the knock out stages 15 times.   But on the other hand last year we started out losing 2-0 at Dortmund, amidst much criticism.  But overall we have won seven, lost two and drawn two of the last 11 away fixtures in the qualifying round and the Champions League proper.
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There’s one other link that crops up: Theo scored a hat-trick when England beat Croatia in the same stadium in a 2010 WC qualifier in September 2008.
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Anniversaries from the champions league

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  • 16 September 1998: Arsenal’s first match in Champions League away to Lens. A 1-1 draw.  Arsenal finish third in the league section.

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14 Replies to “Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal: the under 19s game and prelims about the big boys.”

  1. Off-Topic

    Its very nice of Arsenal Twitter account to wish Luke Shaw of Man Utd a quick recovery from a serious injury. A fine gesture of goodwill from the club.

    I have never seen any other club wishing the Arsenal players a quick recovery.

  2. Looking at Arsenal Player it appears that they have some form of coverage (either text or sound) of the U19s game, but I wouldn’t put too much faith in it. I hope for a double win today. The Juniors play Olympiakos at 14:00 at BorehamWood Manor Park ground before the first team play at the Emirates on the 29th. It is quite easy to get between grounds and watch both if you can get the afternoon off.

  4. Always worth a check this on the Uefa Youth league site. Think two of every day’s games are live streamed. Caught some of City’s game yesterday and it was good quality coverage.

    Only gripe I had is that they described Patrick Roberts, a sensational player, as being on loan at Fulham last year. Weird thing to say as he belonged to Fulham before City shelled out about 12 million pounds for him this summer. I’ll admit, I might be a little oversensitive about City’s cash,though…

  6. I want the Boss to start Olivier Giroud ahead of Theo Walcott for this our UCL game away to Dinamo Zagreb tonight. My reasons are, Walcott became jaded towards the end of the Stoke game last Saturday as he was no longer able to kick the ball in front of goal with conviction. Besides, a quick to get tired Walcott could be liable to picking up injury as the UCL opening games are physically fought out. The big powerful Giroud is more suitable to lead the Gunners’ line in this will be likely physical UCL game. My start: Giroud. SanchezOzilOxlade. CoquelinCazorla. GibbsKoscielnyDeAbreuDebuchy. Cech. The remaining 7 Gunners of the Boss’ 18 man squad are on my bench. Since I don’t have the fast wing back of Bellerin, I better have the fast left wing back of Gibbs. Hence I am starting Monreal on the bench for tactical option. I hope the Boss will understand my actions.

  8. I can’t find any form of live coverage, the Arsenal official twitter feed has periodic updates.

  12. I thought the arrangement was you played a champion’s League on Tuesday then you played your Premier game on Saturday.

    You played on Wednesday then you played on Sunday. Not this week!

    We play on Wednesday and Chelski will also play on Wednesday. We play each other on Sunday no Saturday and the early kick off at that!

    Mancs played Tuesday will play on Saturday.

    Manure Played on Tuesday and will not play until Sunday 4pm KO.

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