Slaven Belupo
- NK Slaven Belupo and NK Gorica are locked in a virtual tie in seventh and eighth place after 33 games of the HNL 2025/2026 campaign, with Gorica seventh and Slaven eighth, only separated by goal difference with 38 points apiece.
- Mario Gregurina has overseen a revolution at Slaven since he took over in July 2025.
- The team is winless in their last five matches (Drawn 2, Lost 3).
- Gregurina has instilled a style of play which is pro-active and vertical, with the home side often pressing and looking to play with numbers forward.
Gorica
- This is in stark contrast to Gorica’s style of play since Mario Carević took over in October 2024.
- Carević is a tactically flexible coach who does not play to a rigid system and has a squad that can change shape and tempo to suit the game.
- Gorica’s form is improving with back-to-back wins over Vukovar 91 and NK Istra 1961 followed by a narrow defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in their most recent league game.
Head-to-Head
- Slaven have the better of the overall and recent head-to-head record against Gorica (Won 3, Drawn 1, Lost 1 from last 5 HNL meetings).
- Slaven have the superior home record in HNL 2025/2026 (Won 7, Drawn 5, Lost 4 from 16 home matches).
Key Players
Josip Mitrovic remains the team’s top scorer with eight HNL goals in 30 appearances , but Jurica Prsir has provided a consistent scoring threat from Gorica’s frontline with seven goals in 31 matches .
Betting Insights
Odds: Slaven Belupo win 2.28 , Over 2.5 goals 1.87 , Both Teams to Score - Yes 1.67 .
Prediction
- The match looks set to be a chess match between the two managers with contrasting styles.
- Both teams will be positive and will look to score goals, making this an intriguing, open game.
