2017–18 NK Maribor season

NK Maribor

2017–18 season
President	Drago Cotar
Head Coach	Darko Milanič
Stadium	Ljudski vrt
Slovenian League	Runners-up
Slovenian Cup	Quarter-finals
Champions League	Group stage
Top goalscorer	League: Luka Zahović (18) All: Marcos Tavares (22)
Highest home attendance	12,566 vs Spartak (13 September 2017)
Lowest home attendance	1,000 vs Gorica (2 December 2017)[1]
Average home league attendance	3,509[2]
Home colours Away colours
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 season was the 58th season in the history of Nogometni klub Maribor. It began on 1 June 2017 and concluded on 31 May 2018, with competitive matches played between July and May. It was the first season since 2007–08 in which Maribor did not win a single trophy during the season as the team lost the league title to Olimpija Ljubljana due to worse head-to-head record after finishing with the same number of points (80) in 36 rounds. Olimpija also eliminated Maribor in the quarter-finals of the Slovenian Cup. However, Maribor fared better in European competitions as the team reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League for the third time in club's history.

32 different players represented the club in three competitions and there were 17 different goalscorers. Maribor's top goalscorer was Marcos Tavares, who scored 22 goals in 47 games.

In June 2017, Maribor signed Jean-Claude Billong and Jasmin Mešanović, both on a free transfer. Mešanović signed from Bosnian team Zrinjski Mostar, who were Maribor's opponents in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Dejan Vokić, Martin Kramarič and Sunny Omoregie returned to squad after their loan spells ended.^[3] On 6 August 2017, Maribor signed Martin Milec, who already played for the club between 2010 and 2014.^[4] Dare Vršič, who was selected as the best player of the 2016–17 Slovenian PrvaLiga season, has re-signed with Maribor on 29 August 2017 after his previous contract with the club ran out after the 2016–17 season.^[5] On the same day, Maribor signed forward Adnan Ahmetović, who was the top goalscorer of the 2016–17 Slovenian U19 League.^[6] On the last day of the summer transfer window, Maribor acquired Israeli player Lior Inbrum on a season-long loan from Gent.^[7] In December 2017, Maribor announced a two new signings, a Malian defender Kassim Doumbia from FH and a Bosnian goalkeeper Kenan Pirić from Zrinjski. However, Maribor and Zrinjski reached an agreement that Pirić would stay at Zrinjski until the end of the season before joining Maribor in July 2018.^[8] On 12 January 2018, Maribor signed a Serbian defender Saša Ivković from Voždovac until 2021 for an undisclosed transfer fee.^[9] On 25 January 2018, Maribor acquired the Slovenian under-21 international forward Jan Mlakar from Fiorentina on a free transfer.^[10] On 13 February 2018, Maribor signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Romanian defensive midfielder Alexandru Crețu, who previously played for Maribor's "eternal rivals" Olimpija Ljubljana.^[11]

Milivoje Novaković, who scored twelve goals in all competitions during the previous season, has retired. Defender Rodrigo Defendi and midfielder Sintayehu Sallalich have left the club after their contract ran out. On 1 August 2017, Žan Celar transferred to the Italian side Roma for a transfer fee of about €1 million.^[12] In December 2017, Jean-Claude Billong moved to the Serie A team Benevento for an undisclosed transfer fee, believed to be around €2 million.^[13] In January 2018, Matej Palčič left for Wisła Kraków.^[14] On the last day of the winter transfer window, Marwan Kabha signed with Hapoel Be'er Sheva.^[15]

The 2017–18 season of the Slovenian PrvaLiga saw 10 teams play 36 matches; four against every other team, with two matches at each club's stadium. Three points were awarded for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats. At the end of the season the top team qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League; teams in second and third qualified for the qualifying stages of the UEFA Europa League instead. The fixture list was released on 22 June 2017.^[31]

Maribor hosted Aluminij at Ljudski vrt on the opening weekend of the season. Aleks Pihler scored the only goal of the game early in the second half.^[32] In the second round, Maribor played against newly promoted Triglav Kranj. After 60 minutes, Triglav were leading 2–0; however, Maribor managed to turn the game around, scoring three goals in the last twenty minutes for a 3–2 victory.^[33] One week later, Maribor defeated Rudar Velenje 1–0 for the third consecutive league victory.^[34] Maribor ended July in second place with the same number of points (nine) as Olimpija Ljubljana.^[35] In the first week of August, Maribor defeated Ankaran Hrvatini 5–1 away from home, topping the league for the first time in the season.^[36] In the fifth round, Maribor failed to win a match for the first time in the season after a goalless draw against Domžale.^[37] A 95th-minute goal by Aleks Pihler secured three points against Krško in a 3–2 victory. Head coach Darko Milanič has made several changes to the starting lineup with a purpose to rest the players for the return leg of the Champions League play-offs against Hapoel Be'er-Sheva.^[38] The first derby of the season between "eternal rivals" Olimpija and Maribor, contested on 27 August 2017 at the Stožice Stadium in Ljubljana, has ended in a goalless draw.^[39]

After the international break in early September, Maribor contested in another goalless draw, this time against Celje at home.^[40] In the ninth round, a brace from Jasmin Mešanović secured three points against Gorica in a 3–0 victory.^[41] Maribor won another game with a score of 3–2 after a comeback in the last twenty minutes, this time against Aluminij; in this match, Lior Inbrum was sent-off on his debut appearance for the club.^[42] After two consecutive victories, Maribor contested in yet another goalless draw against Triglav at home.^[43]

In October, Maribor played three league games, against Ankaran Hrvatini at home and against Rudar Velenje and Domžale away, narrowly winning all three games, scoring four goals and conceding one.^[44] Three out of four team goals were scored by Mešanović.^[45] In the first week of November, Maribor secured their highest win of the season after defeating Krško 5–0, with a hat-trick scored by team captain Marcos Tavares and a brace by Aleksander Rajčević.^[46] In the second "Eternal derby" of the season on 17 November 2017, Maribor defeated Olimpija 1–0 at home in front of 9,000 spectators with another goal scored by Tavares, topping the league table for the first time since early August.^[47] However, in the next round, Maribor suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 2–1 in the "Styrian derby" against Celje. In this match, Tavares scored his 130th goal in the Slovenian top division, tying himself with Štefan Škaper as the all-time top goalscorer in the PrvaLiga.^[48] Tavares became the sole record holder when he scored a winning goal in the next round against Gorica in a 2–1 victory.^[49] In the last round of the autumn part of the season, Maribor should have played against Aluminij, but the match was postponed to February 2018 due to snowy conditions.^[50] Before the winter break, Maribor were top of the league with 43 points out of 18 games.

Maribor began the spring part of the season with a goalless draw at home against Aluminij on 25 February 2018.^[51] After the match against Triglav was postponed due to snow, Maribor contested in another home draw against Rudar and dropped to second place by early March, behind their rivals Olimpija.^[52][53] Maribor won their first match in the spring part of the season on 10 March after defeating Ankaran Hrvatini 3–0 with a goals by Dare Vršič, Luka Zahović, and Jasmin Mešanović, before suffering their first home defeat of the season in the next round against Domžale.^[54][55] This was followed by another home defeat, this time against Krško. After the match, during the press conference, Zlatko Zahovič, a Director of Football at Maribor, made a personal attack against the journalist of the sports newspaper EkipaSN, which caused a major controversy among the media and the public.^[56][57] As a result, Zahovič was suspended by the club and the Football Association of Slovenia.^[58][59] In the third "Eternal derby" of the season, Maribor and Olimpija drew 1–1 in Ljubljana as Olimpija retained a ten-point lead over Maribor after 25 matches.^[60] In the 26th round, Maribor ended their home ground winless drought after defeating Celje 3–2 with a hat-trick by Luka Zahović.^[61] At Stanko Mlakar Stadium, Maribor equalised their highest win of the season as they defeated Triglav 5–0 in a previously postponed match.^[62] In the next round, however, Maribor surpassed this record as they defeated Gorica 6–0 in Nova Gorica, extending their winning streak to three games, in which the team scored fourteen goals.^[63] In the two remaining games of April, Maribor defeated Aluminij and Triglav, reducing Olimpija's lead to only one point.^[64][65] Maribor began the last month of the season with another two victories, over Rudar and Ankaran, extending their winning streak to seven games,^[66] before drawing 1–1 with Domžale in the 32nd round after a 91st-minute equalizer by Tavares.^[67] In the next round, Maribor topped the league table for the first time since late February after defeating Krško 2–1 at Matija Gubec Stadium, while Olimpija dropped points against Ankaran.^[68] In the last derby of the season on 19 May, Maribor lost 3–2 to Olimpija after Andrés Vombergar's last-minute winner in front of 12,166 spectators, again dropping to second place.^[69] Maribor have won two remaining matches, 4–0 and 2–0 against Celje and Gorica, respectively, but lost the league title to Olimpija with the same number of points, but worse head-to-head record.^[70][71]

Maribor v Aluminij

15 July 2017 1	Maribor	1–0	Aluminij	Maribor
20:20 CEST	Pihler 50'	Report	Mesec  85' Jakšić  90'	Stadium: Ljudski vrt Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Dejan Balažič

Maribor v Domžale

11 August 2017 5	Maribor	0–0	Domžale	Maribor
20:20 CEST	Rajčević  8'	Report	Husmani  56'	Stadium: Ljudski vrt Attendance: 4,200 Referee: Dragoslav Perić

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

Notes

Maribor entered the competition in the Round of 16, receiving a bye as one of the four Slovenian teams that competed in the UEFA competitions during the season.^[76] Their opening match was a 3–0 away win against Tabor Sežana on 5 September 2017, with two goals scored by Jasmin Mešanović and one goal by Aleksander Rajčević.^[77] In the quarter-finals, Maribor was eliminated 4–1 on aggregate by their "Eternal rivals" Olimpija Ljubljana, failing to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time since the 2002–03 season.^[78]

Tabor Sežana v Maribor

5 September 2017 Round of 16	Tabor Sežana	0–3	Maribor	Sežana
16:00 CEST	Škerjanc  57'	Report	Rajčević 34' Vrhovec  36' Mešanović 78', 90'	Stadium: Rajko Štolfa Stadium Attendance: 1,300 Referee: Roman Glažar

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

The UEFA Champions League is a continental club football competition organised by UEFA. Founded in the 1950s as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the competition was open to champion clubs of each country and arranged as a straight knockout tournament.^[79] The growth of television rights saw the format rebranded in the 1990s to include a group stage and permit multiple entrants. Maribor have qualified for the group stage in 1999–2000 and 2014–15, when they finished in fourth place in the group on both occasions.^[80][81]

Maribor began the European campaign in the second qualifying round. They were drawn against Zrinjski Mostar, a team they have already met in the same stage of the competition during the 2014–15 season.^[82] In the first leg in Mostar, Maribor secured a 2–1 win with a goals by Luka Zahović and Marcos Tavares; Blaž Vrhovec was also sent off after receiving two yellow cards.^[83] In the second leg, Zrinjski took the lead early in the game, before Mitja Viler equalised for the final score of 1–1, thus Maribor eliminated Zrinjski 3–2 on aggregate.^[84] Maribor continued in the third qualifying round, where they defeated FH 2–0 on aggregate; Tavares scored both goals for Maribor.^[85] In the play-off round, Maribor eliminated Israeli side Hapoel Be'er Sheva. The first match in Israel has finished 2–1 for the home side, with Tavares scoring his four European goal of the season.^[86] In the return leg in Maribor, Viler scored the only goal of the match in a 1–0 victory, sending Maribor through to the group stage of the competition for the third time in the club's history due to away goals rule.^[87]

Zrinjski Mostar v Maribor

12 July 2017 (2017-07-12)	Zrinjski Mostar	1–2	Maribor	Stadion pod Bijelim Brijegom, Mostar
19:00 CEST	Mulahusejnović  82' Todorović 89' Stojkić  90+3'	Report	Šuler  10' Zahović 43' Hotić  62' Vrhovec  63'  68' Tavares 90+4' (pen.)	Attendance: 7,000[88] Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)

Maribor v Zrinjski Mostar

19 July 2017 (2017-07-19)	Maribor	1–1 (3–2 agg.)	Zrinjski Mostar	Ljudski vrt, Maribor
20:15 CEST	Viler 27'	Report	Todorović 7' Bilbija  87'	Attendance: 9,266[89] Referee: Ola Hobber Nilsen (Norway)

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

Maribor v FH

26 July 2017 (2017-07-26)	Maribor	1–0	FH	Ljudski vrt, Maribor
20:20 CEST	Tavares 54'	Report		Attendance: 8,166[90] Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia)

FH v Maribor

2 August 2017 (2017-08-02)	FH	0–1 (0–2 agg.)	Maribor	Kaplakriki, Hafnarfjörður
20:30 CEST	Doumbia  56' D. Vidarsson  69' Gudnason  74' P. Vidarsson  90+3' Bödvarsson  90+5'	Report	Viler  37' Vrhovec  50' Šuler  75' Tavares 90+2' Rajčević  90+3' Hotić  90+6'	Attendance: 2,563[91] Referee: Peter Kráľovič (Slovakia)

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva v Maribor

16 August 2017 (2017-08-16)	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2–1	Maribor	Turner Stadium, Be'er Sheva
20:45 CEST	Nwakaeme 12' Tzedek 45+2' (pen.) Melikson  81'	Report	Tavares 10' Vrhovec  45+1' Viler  77'	Attendance: 15,265[92] Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)

Maribor v Hapoel Be'er Sheva

22 August 2017 (2017-08-22)	Maribor	1–0 (2–2 (a) agg.)	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	Ljudski vrt, Maribor
20:45 CEST	Viler  10' 15' Kabha  80'	Report	Ghadir  19' Elhamed  29' Taha  51' Bitton  73'	Attendance: 12,066[93] Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

Maribor were drawn in Group E, along with Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, and Liverpool.^[94] The club opened their group stage campaign with a 1–1 home draw against Spartak. Damjan Bohar scored the equalising goal late in the game.^[95] In the second matchday, Maribor suffered a 3–0 defeat against Sevilla after a hat-trick by Ben Yedder.^[96] In the third round, Maribor suffered their biggest home defeat in European competitions as the team lost 7–0 to Liverpool.^[97] Liverpool repeated the feat in the home match at Anfield, defeating Maribor 3–0.^[98] Maribor secured their second point in the fifth round in Moscow, again drawing 1–1 with Spartak, with Jasmin Mešanović scoring a last-minute goal.^[99] Maribor concluded their European season with a home draw against Sevilla, finishing the competition in fourth place with three points out of six games.^[100]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LIV	SEV	SPM	MRB
1	Liverpool	6	3	3	0	23	6	+17	12	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–2	7–0	3–0
2	Sevilla	6	2	3	1	12	12	0	9			3–3	—	2–1	3–0
3	Spartak Moscow	6	1	3	2	9	13	−4	6	Transfer to Europa League		1–1	5–1	—	1–1
4	Maribor	6	0	3	3	3	16	−13	3			0–7	1–1	1–1	—

Maribor v Spartak Moscow

13 September 2017 (2017-09-13) 1	Maribor	1–1	Spartak Moscow	Maribor, Slovenia
20:45 CEST	Bohar 85'	Report	Dzhikiya  36' Samedov 59'	Stadium: Ljudski vrt Attendance: 12,566[101] Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Germany)

Sevilla v Maribor

26 September 2017 (2017-09-26) 2	Sevilla	3–0	Maribor	Seville, Spain
20:45 CEST	Ben Yedder 27', 38', 83' (pen.) Escudero  56'	Report		Stadium: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Attendance: 34,705[102] Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (Belarus)

Maribor v Liverpool

17 October 2017 (2017-10-17) 3	Maribor	0–7	Liverpool	Maribor, Slovenia
20:45 CEST	Milec  45' Vrhovec  80' Hotić  89'	Report	Firmino 4', 54' Coutinho 13' Salah 19', 40' Oxlade-Chamberlain 86' Alexander-Arnold 90'	Stadium: Ljudski vrt Attendance: 12,506[103] Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)

Liverpool v Maribor

1 November 2017 (2017-11-01) 4	Liverpool	3–0	Maribor	Liverpool, England
20:45 CET	Salah 49' Can 64' Sturridge 90'	Report	Bohar  22' Rajčević  52'	Stadium: Anfield Attendance: 47,957[104] Referee: Ivan Kružliak (Slovakia)

Spartak Moscow v Maribor

21 November 2017 (2017-11-21) 5	Spartak Moscow	1–1	Maribor	Moscow, Russia
18:00 CET	Popov  49' Luiz Adriano  51' Kutepov  62' Zé Luís 82'	Report	Vrhovec  23' Mešanović 90+2'	Stadium: Otkrytiye Arena Attendance: 42,920[105] Referee: Willie Collum (Scotland)

Maribor v Sevilla

6 December 2017 (2017-12-06) 6	Maribor	1–1	Sevilla	Maribor, Slovenia
20:45 CET	Tavares 10' Pihler  35' Bohar  50' Milec  77'	Report	Ganso 75'	Stadium: Ljudski vrt Attendance: 11,976[106] Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (Romania)

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

To prepare for the forthcoming season, Maribor played a series of friendlies across Eastern Slovenia. Their first match ended in defeat against Osijek of the Croatian First Football League; Valon Ahmedi scored the opening goal of the season for Maribor in the first half, before Osijek turned the game around in the second half for a 2–1 victory.^[107] Maribor then played out a 1–1 draw against Shkëndija, with both goals of the game scored in the first ten minutes.^[108] Maribor recorded their first victory of the pre-season against the Russian side Ural. The first goal was scored by newly-signed Jasmin Mešanović in the 62nd minute, while Gregor Bajde scored the second goal just one minute later for the final 2–0.^[109] During the next few days, Maribor narrowly won two more games, defeating Macedonian champions Vardar and Romanian team Dinamo București, 1–0 and 2–1 respectively.^[110][111] Maribor concluded their pre-season with two defeats, against Croatian first division side Inter Zaprešić and the Russian Premier League side Krasnodar. During the match against Inter, Mešanović and Ahmedi have picked up injuries and have been substituted in the first half.^[112][113]

Maribor v Osijek

16 June 2017 1	Maribor	1–2	Osijek	Maribor, Slovenia
19:00 CEST	Ahmedi 31'	Report	Ejupi 60', 65'	Stadium: Training Centre Pohorje Referee: Samo Veselič (Slovenia)

Maribor v Shkëndija

20 June 2017 2	Maribor	1–1	Shkëndija	Odranci, Slovenia
18:00 CEST	Bohar 6'	Report	Ibraimi 10'	Stadium: ŠRC Odranci Referee: Bojan Mertik (Slovenia)

Maribor v Ural

22 June 2017 3	Maribor	2–0	Ural	Bakovci, Slovenia
18:00 CEST	Mešanović 62' Bajde 63'	Report		Stadium: ŠRC Bakovci Referee: Simon Grlec (Slovenia)

Maribor v Vardar

24 June 2017 4	Maribor	1–0	Vardar	Gornja Radgona, Slovenia
18:00 CEST	Mešanović 42'	Report		Stadium: Gornja Radgona Stadium Referee: Simon Grlec (Slovenia)

Maribor v Dinamo București

28 June 2017 5	Maribor	2–1	Dinamo București	Limbuš, Slovenia
18:00 CEST	Zahović 55' (pen.) Šuler 59' Vrhovec  69'	Report	Costache 74'	Stadium: Pod Grajskim gričem Referee: Bojan Tkalčič (Slovenia)

Maribor v Inter Zaprešić

1 July 2017 6	Maribor	1–2	Inter Zaprešić	Bakovci, Slovenia
18:00 CEST	Tavares 83'	Report	Čirjak 3' Mazalović 59' (pen.)	Stadium: ŠRC Bakovci Referee: Darjan Kovačič (Slovenia)

Maribor v Krasnodar

6 July 2017 7	Maribor	0–2	Krasnodar	Maribor, Slovenia
18:30 CEST		Report	Claesson 9', 51'	Stadium: Ljudski vrt Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Tadej Mežnar (Slovenia)

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

During the winter break, Maribor played several friendly matches at their home stadium, Ljudski vrt, and in Belek, Turkey.^[114]

Maribor v Haladás

24 January 2018 3	Maribor	1–1	Haladás	Maribor, Slovenia
14:00 CET	Vrhovec 79'	Report	Ramos 60'	Stadium: Ljudski vrt Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)

Maribor v SC Weiz

27 January 2018 4	Maribor	3–0	SC Weiz	Maribor, Slovenia
15:00 CET	Zahović 50' Tavares 63' Mlakar 86'	Report		Stadium: Ljudski vrt Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)

Maribor v Vojvodina

30 January 2018 5	Maribor	2–2	Vojvodina	Belek, Turkey
15:00 CET	Bajde 68' Tavares 101'	Report	Kolmanič 6' (o.g.) Nešković 98'	Stadium: Titanic Deluxe Sports Centre Referee: Kris Jakubik (Poland)

Maribor v Sigma Olomouc

2 February 2018 6	Maribor	0–3	Sigma Olomouc	Belek, Turkey
15:30 CET		Report	Hála 2', 14' Plšek 25'	Stadium: Susesi Sport Center Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)

Maribor v Sheriff Tiraspol

5 February 2018 7

Maribor

2–0