Let’s get it on: Croatian Prva HNL champions NK Dinamo Zagreb begin their 2009/10 bid tomorrow as the second qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League kicks-off with a home game against Armenian champions FC Pyunik Yerevan. The ‘Modri’ are in shape as the pre-season preparation went well with an unfortunate 0-1 loss against Steaua Bucharest and several wins against smaller Prva and Druga HNL clubs. Dinamo’s Coach Krunoslav Jurčić is able to use the full strength of his squad as the new additions Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Emiljano Vila, Dalibor Pandža, Denis Glavina and Carlos are all able to play and Mario Mandžukić ended the speculations about a possible transfer in this summer period. However the Kovač case causes problems for Zagreb’s defense.

Robert Kovač was in Salzburg, Austria last week and is currently undergoing further medical treatment in Munich together with Bayern Munich’s head medical doctor Muller Wolfahrt. “It could be that something in my feet is broken. If the first diagnosis turns out right I will miss longer than the expected 2 or 3 weeks” Kovač said. And what was feared became soon reality: Robert’s brother, former Croatian national team skipper Niko Kovač, confirmed the severe injury and quitted Robert’s Champions League dream with the words “This will last long, I’m afraid for my brother”.

Kovač will surely miss both legs against Pyunik tomorrow and on July, 21. The question is now if he will be able to recover until the start of the third qualifying round. According to ‘24 sata’ Dinamo almost agreed to a transfer with Croatia’s national team most capped player Dario Šimić two weeks ago. The AS Monaco defender is bounded to the French Ligue 1 division side club until 2010 and has an estimated market value of € 2m. Šimić is a versatile defender who can play at full-back, sweeper or central defender with big experience as he was a part of Internazionale Milan (1999 – 2002) and AC Milan (2002 – 2008). However final negations were canceled by Dinamo for unknown reason.

Dinamo Zagreb fan website dinamo11.blogspot.com is reporting that Jurčić answered questions about Kovač loss with the words: “What kind of manager would I be if three days before the clash I don’t know who will replace Kovač?! Dejan Lovren will play at Kovač’s position while Carlos will play as a left back”. Somehow it seems that the Dario Šimić case is not yet closed.

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MATCH DETAILS
UEFA Champions League second qualifying round
Stadium: Maksimir, Croatia
Kick-off: 5.00 pm CET
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LINEUPS
Dinamo Zagreb: Butina – Etto, Bišćan, Lovren, Carlos – Vrdoljak – Sivonjić, Badelj, Sammir - Mandžukić, Papadopoulos
FC Pyunik: TBA

OFFICIALS
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Assistant referee: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA) and Christian Bagnoli (ITA)
Fourth official: Maurizio Ciampi (ITA)
UEFA Delegate: René Eberle (SUI)
UEFA Referee observer: Jean Lemmer (LUX)

Other related headlines

1. Champions League: Dinamo to face Pyunik Yerevan
2. Dinamo v Pyunik starting with same XI behind closed doors
3. Dinamo Zagreb survives second qualifying stage