GNK Dinamo Zagreb host NEC Nijmegen at Stadion Maksimir in the Europa League league phase on Thursday, with kick-off at 6.45pm local time.

Dinamo are 14th in the 36-team table on four points after a goalless draw against Hapoel Beer Sheva, played in Bucharest, and a 1-0 win over Anderlecht, which keeps them inside the play-off places, while NEC are 27th on one point after a 5-0 defeat at Juventus and a 1-1 draw at home to Levski Sofia.

The sides have met only once before, in the UEFA Cup group stage on October 23, 2008, when Dinamo won 3-2 at Maksimir after trailing to a stoppage-chasing NEC side.

Match preview

Dinamo Zagreb finished last season with the Croatian league and cup double under Mario Kovacevic, racking up 86 league points and 93 goals, yet Europe remains the soft spot in their game, with only three wins from 10 Europa League matches and a 6-4 aggregate defeat to Genk in the knockout play-offs.

This season Dinamo again missed out on the Champions League, drawing 2-2 with Viking at Maksimir on August 18 and losing 3-1 in Stavanger eight days later, a 5-3 aggregate defeat that sent them into the Europa League.

Their league phase has been short on goals, with Dion Beljo's stoppage-time penalty against Anderlecht on October 15 standing as their first goal of the campaign after the goalless draw in Bucharest against Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Domestically, the Blues sit second in the Croatian league, having lost 4-2 at Osijek on September 12 and 2-1 at Hajduk Split on October 10, when Beljo's 21st-minute goal was cancelled out by a Scott McKenna own goal before Abdoulie Sanyang, known to Hajduk fans as Bamba, scored the winner in the 59th minute.

Dinamo answered that defeat with a 5-1 win at Slaven Belupo on October 18, a result that restored belief before this trip into Europe.

Pressure had built on Kovacevic through the early rounds, and he admitted before the Anderlecht game that several players were below last season's level while insisting the squad would come good.

NEC Nijmegen, led by Dick Schreuder, are playing in Europe for the first time since the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, after finishing third in the Eredivisie last season on 59 points, the best finish in the club's history.

They beat Olympiacos 2-1 on aggregate in the Champions League third qualifying round before losing the play-off tie to Bodo/Glimt: a 3-1 defeat at home in the first leg was compounded by a 3-0 defeat in Norway, sending Bodo through 6-1 on aggregate and NEC into the Europa League.

The Europa League campaign began with a 5-0 defeat at Juventus on September 17 and continued with a 1-1 draw against Levski Sofia at home on October 15, when Reinaldo's 35th-minute opener was cancelled out in the 64th minute after Levski goalkeeper Svetoslav Vutsov played a loose pass straight to Tjarron Chery, who had only to roll it into an empty net.

NEC have scored two goals and conceded 12 across their last four games in Europe, and Schreuder's message after that run has repeatedly centred on cheap goals conceded against the run of general play.

In the Eredivisie NEC sit 12th on the table after a 2-2 home draw with Fortuna Sittard on October 18, a result that extended a winless run to eight, stretching back several weeks in all competitions.

Dusan Tadic, the 37-year-old former Ajax captain who joined NEC on a two-year deal as a free agent from Al-Wahda, drew the ire of home supporters before the 1-1 draw at Ajax on October 10 after saying Ajax remained his standard and being read as critical of his own team-mates' level, and NEC fans responded with banners and whistles during that game.

Dinamo Zagreb Europa League form:

Dinamo Zagreb form (all competitions):

NEC Europa League form:

NEC form (all competitions):

Team News

Dinamo Zagreb have no confirmed absentees for the NEC game.

Luka Stojkovic has started Dinamo's last three matches across competitions, including both legs of the Champions League play-off against Viking in August and the 5-1 win at Slaven Belupo on October 18, and looks set to continue alongside captain Josip Misic and summer signing Kirill Kravtsov in midfield.

Beljo is the player to watch, having scored 38 goals in all competitions last season, including 31 in the league, and he has already reached double figures for the current campaign, with his stoppage-time penalty settling the Anderlecht game and a brace at Slaven Belupo among his recent contributions.

Goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski, a summer signing, has kept clean sheets in both of Dinamo's Europa League matches so far.

For the visitors, Tadic is a doubt after being substituted late in the Levski Sofia game with a leg problem; he sat out the Fortuna Sittard draw, and Dutch reports suggest NEC are treating his recovery cautiously rather than rushing him back for Zagreb.

Bram Nuytinck is out with an ankle injury, and Philippe Sandler has also been troubled by injury this month, leaving Schreuder short of senior options at the back of a three-man defence that has shipped 12 goals in NEC's last four European outings.

Emre Mor has been nursing a groin complaint, while Tjarron Chery is expected to start after being rested domestically.

Dinamo Zagreb possible starting lineup:

Kotarski; Galesic, Dominguez, Radeljic, Vinlof; Misic, Ivanusec, Almena, Stojkovic, Rodriguez; Beljo

NEC possible starting lineup:

Crettaz; Bras, Schuurs, Fonville; Kers, Nejasmic, Lebreton, Storm; Chery, Monteiro, Linssen

We say: Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 NEC

Dinamo are the pick because NEC's defence has been the weak point of their European campaign, conceding six goals in two games, with Nuytinck and Sandler both unavailable at centre-back and Fonville and Kaplan managing knocks of their own after starting at the weekend.

Dinamo have problems of their own, having scored only once in two Europa League matches, but Beljo's goalscoring form and Kotarski's record of two clean sheets from two European games give them a steadier foundation than a NEC side that may be without its main creator in Tadic.

NEC should still find the net, having scored in six of their last eight matches across competitions, and their pace in transition makes them a live threat on the counter, which is why a narrow home win looks a better call than a comfortable one.

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