WE WON!!!
WE MADE IT TO THE EUROPA LEAGUE!!!
WE MADE IT, YESSSSS!!!!
Gosh. Isn't it unbelievable. We won. Partizan made it to the group state of Europa League.
It feels so good to say it out loud.
20 000 Azeri fans were waiting for Partizan in Tofiq Bahramov stadium, all with snapping teeth, thirsty for blood. Partizan boys were wearing their nice, black away jersey. The temperature in the stadium was 37°C, a living hell, even at 9 pm.
(photo: partizan.rs)
Let me mention though, just as a footnote, I have never seen such a horrible football field so far. It was full of humps. During the match sods were flipping around as players were running or tackling. (An epic scene happened at a Partizan-corner, when Živković carefully put back a half-carpet sized sod back that was frizzling up near the corner-flag.) Worse was that at tacklings small earth-balls were flying all over. No, not sod, but soil, splattering all around. (Did those guys in Baku seriously want to qualify to Europe with such a garbage quality field?)
Some time in the 4th minute was the first real chance. Until then they were just trying each other (sometimes literally, sometimes they just kicked each other on the ankle instead of kicking the ball). Then Partizan took a deep breath and attacked, but as Škuletić was running up to Neftchi’s home, he was scythed off by goalkeeper Stamenković. The referee just waved "go ahead", and this "ahead" ended in a counter-attack. At the end of the attack Neftchi’s player passed it to the middle to Abdullayev, the midfielder gave it a hard kick, but Lukač had a HUGE save.
Neftchi again operated with their short, annoying ball passes. They were keeping the ball and kept on making Partizan feel uncomfortable on their half. In the 10th minute it was again about Lukač and his reflexes. Neftchi started an attack from the halfway line, Partizan’s goalkeeper again had a great save.
A minute later Vulićević ran up on the right side, passed it to Škuletić, but the striker tried so long to find his place that finally he was tackled by defenders. In the 12th minute Lazović was kicked hard (and it was just the beginning...), Drinčić’s free kick flew out of the field next to the post.
In the 13th minute Neftchi started again a dangerous attack, then Wobay pushed Branko Ilić at Partizan’s penalty area. The referee didn’t whistle, the Sierra Leone midfielder shot, Lukač saved.
Statue for Lukač at ul. Humska. NOW.
A minute later Grbić’s shot was saved by Stamenković.
There was barely any play in the midfield. If any of the teams got the ball, they immediately attacked. Neftchi players most of the time simply kicked Partizan-players off instead of tackling, like in the 18th minute, after an Azeri corner Branko Ilić fell on the field after being headed by Cardoso. It was so serious that the defender had to be taken off the field on a stretcher. (After some medical attendance he could return.)
Then it was silence until the 24th minute.
Then it was Petar Škuletić time.
It was so much his time that afterwards it was 0:1 for Partizan. He got the ball from Živković, ran up on the left side, lobbed the ball above Stamenković and it fell into the net. 0:1
And he was bold enough to turn to Neftchi-fans who were booing and hissing loud, raised his hand to his ear grinning as if he would say "hey, bros, lemme hear you booing now" (or something like that).
Two minutes later Partizan got another chance, missed by Grbić. The ball left the field near the right goalpost.
Neftchi kept on trying to attack, but Milan Lukač "put up the shutters", no matter how much Azeri players were struggling. In the 29th minute Abdullayev got the ball kicked from the halfway line, passed dangerously into the middle, but the arriving Azeri player just missed it with a step. A minute later again he was dribbling in the penalty area, again passed into the middle, but Yunuszade kicked the ball out of the stadium. In the 32nd minute they tried again, Abdullayev again, but his teammate was again just a step slower than it would have been needed. A minute later Lukač again had a PHENOMENAL save. Wobay shot the ball, Lukač was falling and while (!) falling he saved with a fantastic move. (That was one of the biggest moments of the match.)
At the 35th minute Partizan could finally reach to Neftchi’s home. Škuletić passed to Živković, he shot but missed.
Despite the so many attacks the pace wasn’t much quick, on the contrary, sometimes it was especially slow. Neftchi couldn’t crank it up, as for Partizan, the result was in their favour.
In the 38th minute came that very moment when Flavinho tripped and fell on the ground in the middle of an attack, facing Lukač. I couldn’t see well if he tripped over the ball or a hump, but it doesn’t matter. It was a frantic moment. Right after this Vulićević wanted to run up with the ball, but he was kicked off very hard. The free kick missed the goal, Neftchi immediately started a counter-attack, but it was then the counter-attack of the counter-attack (Partizan got the ball and they didn’t think it over just ran against the Azeri goal).
In the 40th minute it was again this "here and there"-situation (Partizan attacked, Azeri defenders cleaned the area and started a counter-attack, but Lukač was at his place, too). At the very end, in the 45+1st minute there was time even for a foul, Vulićević was kicked brutally by Nfor. The Cameroonian striker didn’t have a too good day, he had a lot of fouls and complained even more. The Austrian referee got slightly fed up with him and showed him the yellow card.
In the second half Ramos kicked off Lazović, still at the beginning. He got a yellow card, but it didn’t take back Neftchi’s will to attack Partizan. Finally in the 58th minute they succeeded. Wobay got the ball inside of Partizan’s penalty area, dribbled around the defenders and kicked the ball into the net by Lukač. 1:1
And then came silence until about the 66th minute. Pace slowed down, it wasn’t too quick anyway. Sometimes both teams seemed to struggle. Then again came an Azeri attack from the halfway line, the striker was running to Partizan’s goal with just one defender behind him, and Lukač made again such a huge save that Average Fan made a circle of candles, stepped in the middle, turned towards Belgrade and bowed to the ground 42 times.
After this Partizan blocked all tryings by Neftchi. As a return gift, Neftchi kicked off Partizan’s players, like e.g. Lazović in the 70th minute or Škuletić in the 73th.
In the 74th minute came a great chance. Again Vulićević passed the ball to the middle. Živković tried to find his way with it, then passed it to Škuletić. The Montenegrin player shot it, but Stamenković grabbed the ball and saved.
A minute later Partizan got a corner, but players were fumbling so long that they missed the chance. One more minute later Lazović missed it.
The next 10 minutes brought three weak Neftchi-chances and a sent-off. The referee got totally fed up with Nfor in the 86th minute after he kicked the x-th Partizan-player off (in this very minute it was about Branko Ilić, but a few minutes earlier he brutally kicked into Škuletić) that he showed the Cameroonian player the red card.
Then in the 92nd minute Petar Škuletić
PETAR FUCKING ŠKULETIĆ
scored and Partizan was leading. 1:2
Hell broke loose.
Within just moments a great fight started on the field. In one moment it was goal and happiness, then the very next you could see only players literally fighting with each other. It seemed, Ramos started it all - all you could see on the screen was Brašanac and Petrović pushing the Paraguayan player, then arrives Stanković like a nuclear bomb, falling on Ramos, and from the background arrives a pissed Saša Ilić shouting angrily. Then Branko Ilić and Vulićević also joined, and Stanković fell on the ground.
Then the referee showed the red card to Škuletić as well as to Caue and Ramos (I admit, these last 2 don't upset me much), but I couldn’t figure out until now why the Montenegrin was sent off. I watched the fighting scene quite a few times, but I didn’t see Škuletić for a moment joining this all-in wrestling. If you know why he got the red card, write it in the comment area. Thanks.
Most important is that with this goal (and with the other) Škuletić shot Partizan into Europa League. They totally deserve celebrating.
The two heroes of the match: Milan Lukač and Petar Škuletić
(photos: partizan.rs)
Match highlights:
Here's the entire match as well.
Facts:
Location: Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, Baku
Number of spectators: 20 000
Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (linesmen: Mattias Winsauer, Roland Brandner, substitute referee: Dominik Ouschan) - AUT
Neftchi Baku: Stamenković - Caue, Yunuszade, Cardoso, Cruz - Abdullayev, Seyidov (Canales, 54.), Wobay (Masimov, 83.), Ramos, Flavinho (Bertucci, 54.) - Nfor
Head coach: Boyukagha Hajiyev
FK Partizan: Lukač - Vulićević, B. Ilić, Stanković, Petrović - A. Živković (Ostojić, 90+5.), Brašanac, Drinčić, Grbić (S. Ilić, 59.) - Škuletić, Lazović (Pantić, 84.)
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
Goal scorers: Škuletić (24.), Wobay (58.), Škuletić (90+2.)
Yellow card: Nfor (45+1.), Ramos (48.), Vulićević (62.), Wobay (70.)
Red card: Nfor (86.), Ramos (90+3.), Caue (90+4.), Škuletić (90+4.)
***
...and two more news, one of them is sad... Drinčić leaves. To Maccabi Haifa. He just signed to them, after the match. This was his last time wearing Partizan’s jersey.
Shit :’(
(photo: partizan.rs)
The other news is that Stanković will most probably stay in ul. Humska for the autumn season.
UEFA Europa League draw starts tomorrow at noon, stay tuned to see whom we will play against this autumn.
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