HNK Gorica vs NK Varazdin Match Recap - Oct 19, 2025

NK Varaždin’s Rousing Away Triumph in Velika Gorica Shakes Up HNL Mid-table Race

The autumn dusk at Gradski stadion Velika Gorica settled over a contest that delivered sharply defined turning points and a result with implications well beyond the points column. NK Varaždin’s 3-1 away victory over HNK Gorica on Sunday evening saw the visitors leapfrog their hosts both in the standings and in psychological advantage, as they seized a crucial win that provides momentum heading into the heart of the HNL campaign.

From the opening whistle, the urgency of the occasion was unmistakable. Both squads entered the night in search of stability—Gorica, desperate to halt a slide that had cast shadows over their promising September run, and Varaždin, eager to transform sporadic flashes of quality into sustained progress. The head-to-head history was fresh: a 1-1 draw in August lingering as evidence of closely matched ambitions. Ninety minutes later, the balance would shift.

The breakthrough arrived abruptly, rendering the home crowd restless. Only seven minutes had elapsed when Ivan Mamut, a figure known for his nerveless execution, converted a penalty for Varaždin. The referee’s decision, met with a cacophony of protest from the Gorica supporters, was clear enough for the visitors—Mamut stepped up, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, and bolstered his reputation as a reliable marksman. The early deficit left Gorica with a challenge they have struggled to meet in recent weeks.

The tactical response from Gorica was measured but toothless. Despite spells of possession, the front line failed to trouble Varaždin’s compact defensive unit. Instead, it was the visitors who looked increasingly composed. As the half-hour mark passed, Varaždin’s patience paid off: a well-constructed move found Luka Škaričić at the edge of the area in the 36th minute. With deft control, he skipped past a defender before unleashing a low drive that bent past Gorica’s outstretched keeper, doubling the advantage and casting a pall over the home side’s prospects.

Trailing by two at halftime, Gorica were staring at a third defeat in five games—a stern reversal from their brief September resurgence when victories over Dinamo Zagreb and Slaven Belupo hinted at upward mobility. That momentum, however, had evaporated in the face of clinical finishing from Rijeka and Osijek earlier this month. The need for a response was urgent, but before Gorica could muster one, Varaždin struck again.

Barely a minute into the second half, Aleksa Latković wrote his own signature under Varaždin’s dominance. Exploiting a lapse in defensive concentration, Latković surged onto a loose ball and finished with authority, making it three for the visitors and leaving Gorica reeling. At that moment, the contest’s competitive edge seemed lost, the home crowd silenced.

Yet, if Gorica’s recent form warned of late surges—see Filip Čuić’s consolation against Rijeka—the final quarter saw another glimmer. With 14 minutes remaining, a VAR check confirmed handball inside the box, and Jurica Pršir, tasked with restoring pride, converted the penalty emphatically. The goal cut the deficit to two, but with time slipping away and Varaždin’s discipline proving unyielding, hopes for an improbable comeback faded with each passing minute.

No red cards punctuated the contest, but the underlying narrative was one of authority: Varaždin’s calm under pressure, their precision at crucial junctures, and their ability to exploit Gorica’s defensive vulnerabilities. For Gorica, the result compounds growing concerns—three losses in their last five fixtures has dropped them to eighth with just 11 points from nine matches. The table now shows them outside the mid-table pack, looking up at a cramped field where every point matters.

Varaždin, meanwhile, find themselves ascending, now fifth with 12 points, and showing signs of the consistency that has eluded them in a stop-start autumn. Their last five games have been a lesson in adaptation: narrow defeats, hard-fought wins, and now a performance that hints at their upper-table ambitions. The victory not only delivers a valuable three points but also a psychological edge, following their earlier draw and confirming an uptick in their head-to-head fortunes.

For the teams, the stakes moving forward have sharpened. Gorica faces the twin challenge of shoring up a porous defense and rediscovering offensive rhythm if they hope to arrest their slide and rejoin the chase for European places. Varaždin, for their part, will look to sustain the form that brought them victory tonight, knowing consistency is the only currency that counts in a league where mid-table volatility is the norm.

As the night closed in at Velika Gorica, it was the visitors who walked away buoyant, their ambitions newly lit, while the hosts looked to regroup in the face of growing questions. The HNL season is a marathon, but tonight’s result may prove a telling marker in the race for relevance.