24 hours after the charity spectacle, the first eternal derby of the new season will take place in Stožice (starting at 20:15), but it will not attract even half as many spectators. Olimpija will be the favorite, but Maribor believes that this could be a turning point.
“Ahead of us is the derby, always a match of additional importance. If any match can be a turning point, it is undoubtedly the derby. Success would mean a lot to us and bring additional momentum,” said the teenager in the Maribor jersey Mark Strajnar. Maribor is without a win in a series of three matches (two draws, one loss), another failure would be a bit critical, and coach Damir Krznar is dealing with injuries to his wards. Along with Jakupović and Soudani, the performance of captain Milco is questionable.
The Olimpija camp claims that they made good use of the national team break. Dragon trainer Joao Henriques he believes the defense will do a better job. “We have the best offense in the league. We scored 18 goals in six games, but at the same time conceding 12 is very bad. We know why that happened. We analyzed the meetings. We have discovered the reasons, and the players are aware of it.“
Last season, Olimpija won three of the four eternal derbies, but Maribor is still firmly in the “eternal ranking”. There have been 56 Ljubljana-Maribor derbies in the league since the 2009/10 season, with the green and white team winning 13 and the purple team winning 21.
The 8th round of the Telemach First League brings another derby between the leading two teams. On Sunday, Koper and Celje will meet in Koper, which is led by Albert Riera and with the top scorer of the league, Aljoša Matko, as the favorite for the championship title. The history of head-to-head matches is on the side of Koper, who won 36 out of a total of 88 first league clashes, but it is true that not a single one last season.
8TH ROUND, today at 3:00 p.m.: ALUMINUM – ROGAŠKA
At 17.30: MURA – BRAVO
At 20.15: OLYMPIA – MARIBOR Referee: Matej Jug (Tolmin)
Sunday at 3:00 p.m.: KALCER RADOMLJE – DOMŽALE
At 20.15: KOPER – CELJE Referee: Rade Obrenović (Ljubljana)
Lestvica: CELJE 6 5 1 0 17:5 16 KOPER 6 5 0 1 12:5 15 OLIMPIJA 6 4 0 2 18:12 12 MARIBOR 6 3 2 1 10:6 11 BRAVO 6 3 1 2 8:7 10 MURA 6 2 0 4 7:14 6 DOMŽALE 6 1 2 3 8:10 5 ALUMINIJ 6 1 1 4 8:11 4 KALCER RADOMLJE 6 1 1 4 4:10 4 ROGAŠKA 6 0 2 4 3:15 2
Source: Rtvslo
