It was the time when Austria was led from the bench by coach Nenad Bjelica, while Marin Leovac played an important role on the pitch... Although both later shone together at Dinamo, at that time they stood in the way of the Blues' path to the Champions League. In the first leg of the elite club competition play-off, Austria Wien defeated Dinamo 2-0 on the Maksimir pitch, but the Blues later had the result "in their pocket" for qualification in the return leg, leading 3-1, though the hosts managed to pull one back which was enough for them to advance.

Austria therefore entered the Champions League group stage while Dinamo continued their European journey in the Europa League group stage. In that Maksimir match, the Blues dominated for the first hour, came closer to scoring, but everything was decided in the second half within seven minutes. First, Daniel Royer in the 68th minute dribbled past three Maksimir defenders, and in the continuation of the move, after a combination between Philipp Hosiner and Tomaš Jun, Leovac caught the ball at full sprint and fired it into the near post. Ante Rukavina soon entered the game from the bench in the 70th minute, but practically in his first action, after less than a minute, he was sent off for a foul. He and opposing defender Kaja Rogulj both went for the ball when Rukavina accidentally caught him with a high boot and received a straight red card. In the 75th minute, the visitors scored their second goal: Fabian Koch broke down the flank, played a return pass, and Marko Stanković charged forward to fire home from the edge of the penalty area to extend the lead.