If anything the European race is exciting, with only Rijeka being safe and coming off a 7:0 win over Istra. Osijek and Hajduk are joint 3rd (Osijek better H2H) while Gorica with a shot, Lokomotiva probably without many chances. While Gorica are getting praise that they deserve they have dropped a lot of bad points at home as well, if their home form was halfway decent they would probably easily be in 3rd place and one of Hajduk/Osijek would miss out. On paper Hajduk have an easy finish to the season with the exception of going to Maksimir at the end of the season so they should make top 4, Osijek in the next three matchdays play Loko, Rijeka and Gorica so they aren't completely safe
At the bottom Rudes is pretty much down as expected, though under Ivkovic they have been getting some results, almost tripled their points tally from pre-Christmas
Istra has been a disaster despite the Alaves funding, they did beat Osijek a few weeks ago but hammered at home to Rijeka and Dinamo and lost to Rudes as well. Whats worse imo they are doing this with a squad full of foreigners. Despite their struggles they should beat the runner-up of the 2.HNL
Speaking of 2.HNL some drama there too, more off the field. Varazdin and Sibenik are fighting for top spot, Sibenik is choking the lead away but Varazdin came out with allegations that the HNS/Dinamo want Sibenik in the HNL instead of them and that they aren't getting fair treatment of the referees (laughable). Their one legit argument is the second teams in the league, notably Dinamo II who in some rounds play mostly young players but on occasions they have used first teamers to play 2.HNL matches, including in a game against Varazdin. Either way the pendulum has swung and Varazdin favorites to promote, especially as they host Sibenik in the final round. Dugopolje have an outside shot of the playoffs but doubt they can get a first division license
