Dinamo's juniors delivered a convincing, attractive and inspired performance to defeat Qarabağ 7-0, scoring as many as five goals in the first half alone, during which the visitors were twice saved by the woodwork. The Blues were also the better side in the first leg in Azerbaijan, where they won 2-1. Coach Milan Badelj has thus led the Maksimir U-19 side into Round 3 of the UEFA Youth League, UEFA's Champions League for youth teams, where they will face Benfica of Lisbon. The first leg is scheduled for 25 November in Zagreb, with the return leg on 9 December in Lisbon. The overall winner will advance to the round of 16.

Dinamo started furiously. In the 2nd minute, Lovro Trupčević played a cutback from the right and Kaloyan Bozhkov struck it powerfully; the ball clipped a defender and bounced off the crossbar for a corner. Just two minutes later, Luka Radić sent a diagonal ball from the right, Roko Ban controlled it neatly and dribbled past a defender, but the goalkeeper managed to stop his shot. The Blues came close again in the 14th minute, when Bozhkov delivered a cross from the right to the “far post”, but Jeon Jin Woo failed to make good contact with the ball in a promising situation.

The visitors threatened with a quick counter in the 17th minute, and in that move Dinamo goalkeeper Petar Nemet was injured. Visiting left-sided forward Daniel Arierhi raced into the penalty area and Nemet managed to get hold of the ball at the last moment, but in the ensuing scramble one of the players caught him on the head with a boot, forcing the young Maksimir goalkeeper to leave the pitch. Fran Gračanin came on from the bench.

Soon afterwards, Ban tried his luck on the move from the edge of the six-yard box, but the visitors' goalkeeper cleared the ball off the line. Dinamo did take the lead in the 24th minute. Bozhkov delivered a corner, Nikola Radnić flicked it on with a header, and Jona Benkotić at the “far post” also headed it, placing the ball into the top near corner.

Trupčević curled a shot from the right shortly afterwards, and Jeon struck first time just wide of the goal. The second goal arrived in the 34th minute: Radić played a short pass on the right to Trupčević, who took the ball down superbly out of the air, rounded the goalkeeper, got to the six-yard box and slammed it into the near corner. Just four minutes later, Bozhkov lucidly sent the ball out to the right, Radić played a cutback for Bozhkov, who fired it into the net from 12 metres to make it 3-0.

In the closing stages of the first half, Dinamo's players hit the woodwork again and then shook the net twice more. First, Krešimir Radoš shot first time from 18 metres, slightly from the left, and hit the junction of crossbar and post in the 44th minute. In first-half stoppage time, Radić played the ball out to the right, Bozhkov chipped it in, and Ban headed it into the goal. The provider of that goal, Bozhkov, soon added his second of the match. He first hit a block from 17 metres, then fired the rebound into the net.

At the start of the second half, Maksimir left-back Dino Škojc got in a block at the last moment to prevent a “consolation” goal for the visitors. In the 54th minute, Niko Željković delivered a corner, Martin Kuzmanov flicked it on with his foot, and centre-back Rävan Teymurov turned the ball into his own net in front of the goal line to make it 6-0. The Blues found themselves one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper twice more: first Radić hit the visiting keeper, after which the ball rebounded right next to the post, and shortly afterwards Željković, in a good position, did not make the best contact with the ball in front of the goal line. However, Željković took on the role of provider in the 76th minute, brilliantly slipping the ball to the right for Radić, who comfortably scored Dinamo's seventh goal from seven metres.

– We started the match very well. Our first match away gave us a picture of our opponent, so the boys recognised that we could impose ourselves and dominate for all 90 minutes. We saw that their defensive side is weaker than their offensive side, so we tried to press them as much as possible so that the play would mostly take place in their half. The boys did that phenomenally, and in the end we were also rewarded with a few lucky goals. But I'm glad that we created good moves that got us into chances. It was nice to watch, both for me as a coach and for the spectators – said Dinamo coach Milan Badelj.

Zaprešić, 4 November 2026

UEFA Youth League, Round 2, second leg

Dinamo – Qarabağ 7-0

(first leg: Qarabağ – Dinamo 1-2)

ŠRC Ivan Laljak-Ivić

Dinamo: Nemet (19 Gračanin) – Trupčević (59 Kadić), Kuzmanov, Radnić (59 Hlavaty), Škojc – Radoš; Radić, Bozhkov (46 Željković), Benkotić (70 Tejeda), Jeon – Ban

Coach: Milan Badelj

Qarabağ: B. Haciyev – Väliyev (87 Mämmädov), Qurbanli (77 Älişanli), Teymurov, Rzayev – Cabbarli (87 Gülenç), Qazibäyov (87 I. Haciyev); Ä. Äliyev, Bäşirov, Arierhi – Chidioke (59 Ibrahim)

Coach: Räşhad Sadiqov

Referee: Loïc Thomas (Luxembourg)

Scorers: 1-0 Benkotić (24), 2-0 Trupčević (34), 3-0 Bozhkov (38), 4-0 Ban (45+1), 5-0 Bozhkov (45+4), 6-0 Teymurov (54 – own goal), 7-0 Radić (76)