Could it be *gasp*
and Baileys 
If it is her, why would she make you go through all the pain over these two years and Baileys
and Baileys
maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! I absolutely love your writing! It's so emotive and powerful! Amazing work!
MATKO KARDUM COMES BACK TO END MAKSIMIR...
DINAMO 1-2 HAJDUK M. KARDUM, P. BAŠIĆ
After a loss at Stamford Bridge (2-0), Bendiš came to Zagreb looking for a result. And he got one. It didn't look like it early on though, especially when Nikica Ivančić conceded a soft penalty five minutes in. 18 year old Hašib Ramić, who, is looking better and better every day, didn't stand a chance though, as South African international, Sunday Lucas scored a simple shot down the middle to give Dinamo the lead.
It is only the fourth time since Bendiš was put in charge that Dinamo has taken the lead against their southern rivals: they had won all three previous occassions.
But Bendiš was not having it. And neither was former Dinamo prodigy, Matko Kardum. Mirnes Trifković, the Slovenian who, very soon, will become Croatian, was, as he has been so many times this season, the architect. It was a simple dinked ball, but it orchestrated a beautiful counter-attack, as the 17 year old, picked up on the attack after dashing past the only defense, and smashed the ball past Marijan Antolović for the equalizer.
Trifković was there agains for the lead, as the clock wound down in Zagreb. It looked increasingly like a stalemate, but all it took was one moment of brilliance, as the Slovenian playmaker shunted a ball out wide to Pero Bašić. Bašić was more than happy to oblige, and as the clock showed 90 minutes, Antolović flailed wildly for the air, as the ball passed, unobstructed into the back of Dinamo's net.
...MEANWHILE... ON THE EUROPEAN CIRCUIT...
HAJDUK SMASHES CHELSEA TO ATONE FOR LOSS IN LONDON
HAJDUK 3-1 CHELSEA T. PEŠIĆ, T. KIŠ, H. ŽLIDAR
Even Hrvoje Žlidar, a left back, got in on the action against the Brits, as Hajduk showed them what's what in Split. While they had lost 2-0 in London, Chelsea were far enough behind that Hajduk retained their top spot, despite the loss. Meanwhile though, Chelsea, in losing this one, quickly became embroiled in the qualification brawl for second place, as Red Star battered Basel 6-0 (!?) in Switzerland (?!?). With two matches left, Chelsea has to defeat Basel and Red Star hope for qualification, and, while not the strongest teams in the world, they are both big asks for incumbent boss Roberto di Matteo.
...AND THEN...
He woke up the next morning with a massive headache. Hajduk did not train on weekends, Bendiš thanked God for that. He was a slavedriver during the week, but so long as his players behaved themselves, they'd get the weekend off.
Oddly enough, he woke to the smell of lunch being cooked. He hadn't had someone cook lunch for him since Iva...
He tried to stand, the room had kindly stopped spinning when he set one foot on the ground, but Bendiš was not graceful under even the best of circumstances. He slowly made his way across his room towards the kitchen. The size of his "apartment" was a disadvantage in such circumstances. He had transformed the entire five story building into his own personal home, and, as such the distances were large and inconvenient. But he managed, and climbed down the steps to the kitchen. With each step, his head throbbed more; it was hardly an ideal scenario. But he had to make it outside.
And then he stopped. A small trick with his home was that the kitchen had an especially high ceiling: he had made an effort to introduce more light into the setting by removing parts of the second floor. Because of this though, he could see who was in his kitchen, preparing fish before going outside to put it on the grill, and suddenly... his head hurt all the more.
He still kept it, the engagement ring. The one he found in his café, rested on the piano that one night in June. He saw it every day, the way it sparkled as the sun passed over it in the morning, the way that it matched her smile. He had given up... he had travelled the world looking, he gave up last year... when the Italian police consoled him after his trip to Athens, when he had crossed so far, only to have gone the wrong way, when he spent the morning in Otranto, sobbing on the beach.
He finally stopped missing her in the morning. He thought he had finally gotten over her laugh, her stupidly funny sense of humor. He thought he was free, when Iva had come, and they had gotten together. He thought that he finally made it through... and then an armored car had taken it all away.
There was one newspaper he had kept from that... it was in a drawer in his bedroom in Monaco. L'Équipe had published it on their front page on the night Iva died, hovering over a picture of the explosion: 'WHY HIM?'.
It had taken everything away, so he asked the question aloud. It was not as loud as he had hoped, his voice still recovering from the shock. But he asked, and she only looked up,
"Why?"
DINAMO 1-2 HAJDUK M. KARDUM, P. BAŠIĆ
After a loss at Stamford Bridge (2-0), Bendiš came to Zagreb looking for a result. And he got one. It didn't look like it early on though, especially when Nikica Ivančić conceded a soft penalty five minutes in. 18 year old Hašib Ramić, who, is looking better and better every day, didn't stand a chance though, as South African international, Sunday Lucas scored a simple shot down the middle to give Dinamo the lead.
It is only the fourth time since Bendiš was put in charge that Dinamo has taken the lead against their southern rivals: they had won all three previous occassions.
But Bendiš was not having it. And neither was former Dinamo prodigy, Matko Kardum. Mirnes Trifković, the Slovenian who, very soon, will become Croatian, was, as he has been so many times this season, the architect. It was a simple dinked ball, but it orchestrated a beautiful counter-attack, as the 17 year old, picked up on the attack after dashing past the only defense, and smashed the ball past Marijan Antolović for the equalizer.
Trifković was there agains for the lead, as the clock wound down in Zagreb. It looked increasingly like a stalemate, but all it took was one moment of brilliance, as the Slovenian playmaker shunted a ball out wide to Pero Bašić. Bašić was more than happy to oblige, and as the clock showed 90 minutes, Antolović flailed wildly for the air, as the ball passed, unobstructed into the back of Dinamo's net.
...MEANWHILE... ON THE EUROPEAN CIRCUIT...
HAJDUK SMASHES CHELSEA TO ATONE FOR LOSS IN LONDON
HAJDUK 3-1 CHELSEA T. PEŠIĆ, T. KIŠ, H. ŽLIDAR
Even Hrvoje Žlidar, a left back, got in on the action against the Brits, as Hajduk showed them what's what in Split. While they had lost 2-0 in London, Chelsea were far enough behind that Hajduk retained their top spot, despite the loss. Meanwhile though, Chelsea, in losing this one, quickly became embroiled in the qualification brawl for second place, as Red Star battered Basel 6-0 (!?) in Switzerland (?!?). With two matches left, Chelsea has to defeat Basel and Red Star hope for qualification, and, while not the strongest teams in the world, they are both big asks for incumbent boss Roberto di Matteo.
...AND THEN...
He woke up the next morning with a massive headache. Hajduk did not train on weekends, Bendiš thanked God for that. He was a slavedriver during the week, but so long as his players behaved themselves, they'd get the weekend off.
Oddly enough, he woke to the smell of lunch being cooked. He hadn't had someone cook lunch for him since Iva...
He tried to stand, the room had kindly stopped spinning when he set one foot on the ground, but Bendiš was not graceful under even the best of circumstances. He slowly made his way across his room towards the kitchen. The size of his "apartment" was a disadvantage in such circumstances. He had transformed the entire five story building into his own personal home, and, as such the distances were large and inconvenient. But he managed, and climbed down the steps to the kitchen. With each step, his head throbbed more; it was hardly an ideal scenario. But he had to make it outside.
And then he stopped. A small trick with his home was that the kitchen had an especially high ceiling: he had made an effort to introduce more light into the setting by removing parts of the second floor. Because of this though, he could see who was in his kitchen, preparing fish before going outside to put it on the grill, and suddenly... his head hurt all the more.
He still kept it, the engagement ring. The one he found in his café, rested on the piano that one night in June. He saw it every day, the way it sparkled as the sun passed over it in the morning, the way that it matched her smile. He had given up... he had travelled the world looking, he gave up last year... when the Italian police consoled him after his trip to Athens, when he had crossed so far, only to have gone the wrong way, when he spent the morning in Otranto, sobbing on the beach.
He finally stopped missing her in the morning. He thought he had finally gotten over her laugh, her stupidly funny sense of humor. He thought he was free, when Iva had come, and they had gotten together. He thought that he finally made it through... and then an armored car had taken it all away.
There was one newspaper he had kept from that... it was in a drawer in his bedroom in Monaco. L'Équipe had published it on their front page on the night Iva died, hovering over a picture of the explosion: 'WHY HIM?'.
It had taken everything away, so he asked the question aloud. It was not as loud as he had hoped, his voice still recovering from the shock. But he asked, and she only looked up,
"Why?"
WAIT A SECOND... WHO'S #99... NO... THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE...
HAJDUK 3-0 RIJEKA J. BAŠI?, K. BENZEMA, T. PEŠI?
And, the starting line-up for Hajduk: "Hašib"... the crowd went "RAMI?".
"Mario" -MALO?A! "Josip" -ELEŽ! "Erik" -JANŽA! "Josip" -BAŠI?! "Antonio" -MILI?! "Franko" -ANDRIJAŠEVI?! "Pero" BAŠI?! "Mirnes" TRIFKOVI?! "Admir" LOTINAC!
and then...
"KARIM!" followed by a period of silence...
a sole voice came from the crowd gasped "Holy shit, that's Karim Benzema"
"POLJUD, PLEASE GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO NUMBER 99, KARIIIIIIIIIM BENZEMA!"
He scored that evening... because it's Karim Benzema.
http://i62.tinypic.com/2dafujk.jpg
HAJDUK 3-0 RIJEKA J. BAŠI?, K. BENZEMA, T. PEŠI?
And, the starting line-up for Hajduk: "Hašib"... the crowd went "RAMI?".
"Mario" -MALO?A! "Josip" -ELEŽ! "Erik" -JANŽA! "Josip" -BAŠI?! "Antonio" -MILI?! "Franko" -ANDRIJAŠEVI?! "Pero" BAŠI?! "Mirnes" TRIFKOVI?! "Admir" LOTINAC!
and then...
"KARIM!" followed by a period of silence...
a sole voice came from the crowd gasped "Holy shit, that's Karim Benzema"
"POLJUD, PLEASE GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO NUMBER 99, KARIIIIIIIIIM BENZEMA!"
He scored that evening... because it's Karim Benzema.
http://i62.tinypic.com/2dafujk.jpg
Great stuff, as per usual Timmy :D.. Impressive to see Karim having 17 passing and 17 finishing, even though he's a bit slow, but I blame it on the age :P. He, however, can be a great tutor for any of your upcoming strikers, so he might just stay at Hajduk 
KIŠ SNUBBED
A 51 GOAL SEASON was not enough to do it for the Croatian Sensation, Tomislav Kiš, as he looks to become one of the least appreciated strikers of all time. With 19 goals more than the next best man (Davide Levati for AC Milan) in two fewer appearances (36 vs. 38), he had only 1 fewer man of the match (17) than the leader, Hector Escobar, who Kiš ran circles around the year before last when the Columbian turned out for Real Madrid (now at Tottenham)
But it is an obvious problem: despite last year's Champions' League Quarterfinal including two Croatian clubs and a Belgian, there were only three nominations from outside the "Big Three": France, England, Spain; that of Toni Kroos for Bayern, the aforementioned Davide Levati for AC Milan, and Erik Lamela of Juventus.
When the Croatian clubs, or even any clubs will be allowed to join the top table is a question for a rainy day, it seems. In the last ten years, Hajduk have won the Champions League title twice, been runner up twice, and has, in general, been absolutely devastating to the creme of the crop in Europe.
It seems that the only positive thing about this list is that the spectacularly overrated Lionel Messi, who won his eleventh Ballon D'Or last year, has finally been overlooked.
For Kiš, three medals still remain: the World Cup, the European Championship, and the Champions League, which he has kissed twice, but never won.
A 51 GOAL SEASON was not enough to do it for the Croatian Sensation, Tomislav Kiš, as he looks to become one of the least appreciated strikers of all time. With 19 goals more than the next best man (Davide Levati for AC Milan) in two fewer appearances (36 vs. 38), he had only 1 fewer man of the match (17) than the leader, Hector Escobar, who Kiš ran circles around the year before last when the Columbian turned out for Real Madrid (now at Tottenham)
But it is an obvious problem: despite last year's Champions' League Quarterfinal including two Croatian clubs and a Belgian, there were only three nominations from outside the "Big Three": France, England, Spain; that of Toni Kroos for Bayern, the aforementioned Davide Levati for AC Milan, and Erik Lamela of Juventus.
When the Croatian clubs, or even any clubs will be allowed to join the top table is a question for a rainy day, it seems. In the last ten years, Hajduk have won the Champions League title twice, been runner up twice, and has, in general, been absolutely devastating to the creme of the crop in Europe.
It seems that the only positive thing about this list is that the spectacularly overrated Lionel Messi, who won his eleventh Ballon D'Or last year, has finally been overlooked.
For Kiš, three medals still remain: the World Cup, the European Championship, and the Champions League, which he has kissed twice, but never won.
CHELSEA TAKE 1ST PLACE THROUGH AWAY GOALS RULE
Chelsea robbed Hajduk of a first place finish in the Champions League group, as Hajduk, noticeably weakened for their lack of Admir Lotinac, Pero Baši?, and most of all, Teo Pesi? (who, is, at 25 one of the greatest wide players in the game) came in 2nd with a superior goal difference and even points (12). It could have been worse though, as Basel, given the chance to knock the Londoners out, conceded two goals from former players (Xhaka, Shaqiri) to get dumped into the Europa League.
It was Group F where the fans were truly heartbroken though. With three teams on 10 points, Barcelona drew the short end of the stick, falling out, as Liverpool topped the trio, and Galatasaray nabbed the 2nd position.
And then Group G... oh, Group G.
http://i62.tinypic.com/6xu6x1.jpg
The draw for the First Knockout Round could not come soon enough, Hajduk and Real Madrid were obviously everyone's least favorite unseeded draw. But someone had to have them. Always a big event, Monaco always held true to a spectacle, as stars from around the world came to the Grimaldi Forum for the annual soirée. Bendiš usually arrived drifting into the roundabout and tossing the keys to the nearest valet. But he couldn't this year. His Ferrari was hardly something that he drifted with, and his Fiat...
well...
Zidane, recently elected the UEFA president when Platini was elevated to the FIFA top post, stepped out of his limo when a terrible racket started above the forum. The limo was moved, and as it pulled away, a helicopter descended onto the center of the roundabout: sleek, black, a Russian executive design, with a Croatian tail sign. People moved away, as the wind from the rotors picked up.
Bendiš, always impeccably dressed, stepped out of the back. His pilot tossed the chopper's keys as he stepped outside. The Croatian caught the awkwardly thrown keys behind his back, and tossed them to the valet at the door. He pulled out a 500€ note from his pocket, tucked it into the valet's jacket, and said, "I think it's okay there, don't you?" before walking inside.
http://i61.tinypic.com/29y05mu.jpg
It was the first time in a decade that the Hajduk manager had come unaccompanied. There was no Gerrard, no Carragher, no Zlatan. No one but Bendiš, but he always made quite the appearance on his own.
Chelsea robbed Hajduk of a first place finish in the Champions League group, as Hajduk, noticeably weakened for their lack of Admir Lotinac, Pero Baši?, and most of all, Teo Pesi? (who, is, at 25 one of the greatest wide players in the game) came in 2nd with a superior goal difference and even points (12). It could have been worse though, as Basel, given the chance to knock the Londoners out, conceded two goals from former players (Xhaka, Shaqiri) to get dumped into the Europa League.
It was Group F where the fans were truly heartbroken though. With three teams on 10 points, Barcelona drew the short end of the stick, falling out, as Liverpool topped the trio, and Galatasaray nabbed the 2nd position.
And then Group G... oh, Group G.
http://i62.tinypic.com/6xu6x1.jpg
The draw for the First Knockout Round could not come soon enough, Hajduk and Real Madrid were obviously everyone's least favorite unseeded draw. But someone had to have them. Always a big event, Monaco always held true to a spectacle, as stars from around the world came to the Grimaldi Forum for the annual soirée. Bendiš usually arrived drifting into the roundabout and tossing the keys to the nearest valet. But he couldn't this year. His Ferrari was hardly something that he drifted with, and his Fiat...
well...
Zidane, recently elected the UEFA president when Platini was elevated to the FIFA top post, stepped out of his limo when a terrible racket started above the forum. The limo was moved, and as it pulled away, a helicopter descended onto the center of the roundabout: sleek, black, a Russian executive design, with a Croatian tail sign. People moved away, as the wind from the rotors picked up.
Bendiš, always impeccably dressed, stepped out of the back. His pilot tossed the chopper's keys as he stepped outside. The Croatian caught the awkwardly thrown keys behind his back, and tossed them to the valet at the door. He pulled out a 500€ note from his pocket, tucked it into the valet's jacket, and said, "I think it's okay there, don't you?" before walking inside.
http://i61.tinypic.com/29y05mu.jpg
It was the first time in a decade that the Hajduk manager had come unaccompanied. There was no Gerrard, no Carragher, no Zlatan. No one but Bendiš, but he always made quite the appearance on his own.
Good draw against OM, one you can easily win, and that entrance was nothing short of epic 
END OF AN ERA
VILSON DŽONI, DOMENICO SISGOREO, DRAŽEN MUŽINIĆ LEAVING IN JUNE
Domenico Sisgoreo, Hajduk's head physio for the last 16 years, Dražen Mužinić, who has been at his boyhood club for the better part of 30 years, and Vilson Džoni, 71, who has spent the last 46 years of his life at the club in some form or another, are leaving the club in June, as they say goodbye to what has been, without a doubt, one of the greatest periods of their career.
In a press conference later in the evening, after the departure of Mužinić and Sisgoreo, and the retirement of Džoni were announced, Bendiš was in tears.
"These three men have done their absolute best to shape my career. It was Džoni who found me, playing for my local school down in Dubrovnik, who started my short playing career. It was Mužinić who let me through to the academy. And it was Sisgoreo, who, all those years ago, spent hours with me, making sure that I would be able to walk again. They are the greatest asset that the club could hope for, and, while we are in a position now to replace them, unlikely as that was ten years ago, they will remain an integral part of how this club works, how it lives.
"Thank you, thank you so, so much."
VILSON DŽONI, DOMENICO SISGOREO, DRAŽEN MUŽINIĆ LEAVING IN JUNE
Domenico Sisgoreo, Hajduk's head physio for the last 16 years, Dražen Mužinić, who has been at his boyhood club for the better part of 30 years, and Vilson Džoni, 71, who has spent the last 46 years of his life at the club in some form or another, are leaving the club in June, as they say goodbye to what has been, without a doubt, one of the greatest periods of their career.
In a press conference later in the evening, after the departure of Mužinić and Sisgoreo, and the retirement of Džoni were announced, Bendiš was in tears.
"These three men have done their absolute best to shape my career. It was Džoni who found me, playing for my local school down in Dubrovnik, who started my short playing career. It was Mužinić who let me through to the academy. And it was Sisgoreo, who, all those years ago, spent hours with me, making sure that I would be able to walk again. They are the greatest asset that the club could hope for, and, while we are in a position now to replace them, unlikely as that was ten years ago, they will remain an integral part of how this club works, how it lives.
"Thank you, thank you so, so much."
You are reading "[FM13]The Adriatic Adventure [Hajduk Split]".
