I take the 25-minute cable car ride to the top of the highest peak, Sljeme, enjoying the view as the city disappears far below. There are few people up here and it’s peaceful in the early October sun. I follow one of the paths leading off from the summit. It cuts through the trees then descends steeply, making me realise I will have a challenge to get back up to the top.

That brings to mind the club I have come to watch in the Champions League; if ever a team have a mountain to climb, it is GNK Dinamo. Their 9-2 loss to Bayern München in their opening game broke all records. Never before had a side conceded nine goals in the competition proper, six in the second half alone. Things are unlikely to get any easier with the visit of in-form Monaco, Dinamo’s opponents on matchday two.

Despite the nature of that defeat in Munich, there is still a sense of optimism around the club. Dinamo legend and former Yugoslavia captain Velimir Zajec was voted in as president in March and there is also a new face in the dugout, Nenad Bjelica returning as coach following that loss to Bayern. There is even talk that agreement with Zagreb city council on a new ground to replace the crumbling Stadion Maksimir could soon be reached, though fans will tell you they have heard that before.

I’ve been invited on a tour of the Maksimir on the morning of the Monaco match, starting in the club offices under the main stand where team photos of each of Dinamo’s 35 title-winning sides line the walls. At the end of the corridor is president Zajec’s office and he invites me in to sit and talk. His English is good, and I learn that Brian Clough was unable to persuade him to join Nottingham Forest in 1984 – a rare rebuff for the double European Cup-winning coach. Yugoslav players were allowed to move abroad after turning 28 and Zajec did travel to England to hear Clough out, but a transfer never materialised as he had already shaken hands on a move to Panathinaikos and stuck to his word. Zajec did return to England in the European Cup semi-finals towards the end of that season, but Liverpool were too strong for the Greek side.

Behind the desk, recessed in the wall, is a replica of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which Dinamo won in 1966/67, beating Don Revie’s Leeds United 2-0 on aggregate in the final. Vejac’s own success with Dinamo would come later, notably when he helped the club end a 24-year wait for the Yugoslav title in 1981/82. A mural commemorating the legends of that team, including Zajec, is painted on one of the pillars supporting the main stand.

Dinamo have played at Maksimir since 1948, across the road from the city park after which it is named. It is where, in May 1990, Dinamo legend Zvonimir Boban launched his kick at a police officer before a game against Crvena Zvezda when fighting between rival fans spilled on to the field in a reflection of the tensions which soon exploded with war in the Balkans.

Both are in the side to face Monaco. The rain is incessant. It starts late in the afternoon and doesn not stop. Fans huddle under the main stand before the game. The stadium is totally open to the elements and people are wearing blue waterproof ponchos over their coats in a despertae attempt to keep dry. Away to the right, in the otherwise empty South Stand, are 200 or so travelling Monaco fans. To the left, all in black and without ponchos, Dinamo ultras break into song and, like the rain, never let up.

On an impossible surface, the game is epic. In places, the water is pooling on the pitch and the ball stops dead where it lands; in others, it skids off the surface and the players must guess whether to stick or twist as it hurtles through the downpour towards them. Dinamo play like their Champions League lives depend on it and take the lead just before half-time, somehow controlling the ball on the break to give Sučić the chance to fire in.

I started the game in the dry of the press box but have moved up into the stand to feel the full Maksimir experience. It is worth the soaking as Dinamo keep up the momentum and add a second on 66 minutes when Baturina fires in from the edge of the area. Beers fly, strangers hug, the roar breaks through the mesmeric rhythm of the rain.

Dinamo defend bravely; Raúl Torrente, whose head is heavily bandaged following an earlier clash, nods off the line. Monaco are beginning to build pressure and finally it tells. Perhaps inevitably on a night dominated by the conditions, a mistake leads to a goal as Dinamo keeper Ivan Nevistić misjudges a cross to allow Mohammed Salisu to pull one back. Still Dinamo look likely to see out the win, before fortune fails them – Maxime Bernauer brings down Folarin Balogun and captain Denis Zakaria scores from the spot. It is the fourth penalty Dinamo have conceded in two Champions League games and this one costs them two points.

As the final whistle blows, AC/DC’s Hells Bells plays out over the sound system. Never has a song been more appropriate. Dinamo’s players make their way to the edge of the penalty area and salute the fans behind the goal. Still they sing and now the players join in, clapping in unison to the beat of the terrace.

The rest of the stadium is emptying out. The puddles in the car park are now ponds and you have to skirt round the edges to avoid sloshing through them. People are still wearing their blue ponchos as they wait for the tram back into the centre of town. Mine feels like a second skin. It is part of me now. Dinamo may not have won, but in the new Champions League table, a point is enough to take them off the bottom. The climb up the mountain has begun.