Polish commentators slam Hajduk: 'An empty shell'

Croatian football club Hajduk Split drew 2-2 with Poland's Raków in the first leg of their Europa Conference League playoff, but the result was overshadowed by harsh criticism from Polish commentators.

Polish pundits Robert Podolinski and Rafal Gikiewicz analyzed Raków's play but dedicated significant time to dissecting Hajduk's performance. They specifically highlighted the red card shown to Hajduk's Adrion Pajaziti in the 55th minute, which left the team with 10 men for more than 30 minutes. Raków ultimately secured a late equalizer in added time.

Podolinski suggested Hajduk underestimated their opponents, stating, "'Big' Hajduk thought some peasants from Częstochowa were coming and they would spin them around in a carousel. What did that foul stem from? Frustration because things weren't going as they imagined."

Gikiewicz was particularly scathing, expressing disappointment with Hajduk's on-field play despite the electric atmosphere at the packed Poljud stadium. "Of course. But listen, we're talking about 'big' Hajduk, which has been waiting for Europe for 15 years. The stadium is full, the fans, the atmosphere, it's all nice, but internally, for the last few years, it's been a bit of an empty shell. When I look purely at football, they didn't impress me. They have a volleyball player in goal who would have trouble catching the ball. Terrible. Truly terrible," he stated.

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Naravno. Ali slušaj, govorimo o 'velikom' Hajduku koji već 15 godina čeka Europu. Stadion je pun, navijači, atmosfera, sve je to lijepo, ali iznutra je posljednjih nekoliko godina to pomalo prazna ljuštura. Kada gledam čisto nogometno, nisu me oduševili. Na golu imaju odbojkaša koji bi imao problema uhvatiti loptu. Užasno. Stvarno užasno.