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The Croatian national team will face Spain in a Nations League double match today, a fixture that has drawn attention from Spanish media. The Spanish daily AS devoted a piece to the historic Poljud stadium in Split and to a notable event in its history – the 1990 match between Hajduk Split and Partizan Belgrade that was interrupted in September of that year. Poljud was officially opened by former Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. The stadium’s inauguration took place a few months before Tito’s death, and the AS article, titled “Poljud, stadion na kojem je izgorjela Jugoslavija” (“Poljud, the stadium where Yugoslavia burned”), frames the venue within the political turbulence of the time. The piece notes that only months earlier, a match at Maksimir in Zagreb between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade had ended in a riot. In the 1990 encounter at Poljud, Partizan led 2–0, with goals from Milan Đurđević. The match featured several players who would later become prominent figures in European football. Among them was 21‑year‑old Predrag Mijatović, who would go on to star for Valencia and Real Madrid. For Hajduk, the lineup included Goran Vučević, Igor Štimac and Robert Jarni. From Partizan, AS highlighted Josip Višnjić and Goran Bogdanović. The current Croatian squad, selected by coach Slaven Bilić, will travel to Madrid to contest the Nations League tie against Spain. The match is part of a double fixture, with the second leg scheduled for later in the week.
Article source: Večernji List | Image credit: Večernji List
