We won. We had a fantastic game with Vojvodina. The two teams immediately set out at each other, then in the 7th minute Veselinović decided to try if Lukač is at his place. But before anything could have happened, Ćirković cleaned the area.
In the 16th minute Partizan missed a huge chance. Škuletić arrived with excellent pace on the left side, kicked the ball that rolled through between the goalkeeper’s legs... and left the playing field just a few centimetres near the right goalpost. Three minutes later another great chance came. Živković passed the ball to Škuletić, who ran up in the middle. He passed it to Lazović, the striker kicked the ball into the goalkeeper. A few seconds later it was again Lazović who shot the ball to the goal line, but the goalkeeper had very good reflexes. Vojvodina then ran up for a counter-attack. The shot wasn’t strong, it meant no problem for Lukač.
The 25th minute brought another Vojvodina-attack. Gaćinović passed it to Veselinović. It was dangerous, but Lukač grabbed the ball.
The 30th minute gave Škuletić another chance. Živković kicked the ball to him, Škuletić headed it ahead, but the goalkeeper caught it.
But then...
33rd minute.
Živković passed the ball to Škuletić from behind the half line, with an at least 25-metre shot. The striker ran up, had a great sprint, kicked...
...GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!
Fantastic, amazing, wonderful, brilliant goal, shot near Milinković-Savić, who ran out, right into the middle of the net.
Škuletić’s unique goal celebration
Update: as I got to know just now, Vojvodina's fans made a "nice surprise" for Petar Škuletić and head coach Marko Nikolić. Earlier both of them belonged to the team of Vojvodina and Firma, the fan group of the Novi Sad based team could still not forgive them that they signed to Belgrade. For this, as a revenge they made the striker’s and the trainer’s phone numbers public. Partizan have still not made any official statement about this provocation, but as for Škuletić, he took the most possible noble vengeance.
The southern tribune had a fiesta.
Some started an argument about Škuletić, whether he was on offside when Živković passed to him or not. Well, ArenaSport’s slow motion replay didn’t confirm it, even though it was shown numerous times, analyzed by frame to frame. All that could be seen was that the striker and the defender were in level, but in-level offside hasn't been actual offside since 1990.
In the 36th minute Živković tried with another chance, while the entire field was under smoke. Meanwhile Lazović was the favourite target of guest team players, i.e. everyone who got next to him, kicked into him.
In the 40th minute Drinčić passed the ball to the middle. Someone headed it (I couldn’t see who it was), barely missed. Four minutes later again Škuletić rushed up to Vojvodina’s penalty area. He got a great pass from Lazović, made a turn at the penalty area line shaking the defender off and kicked the ball. It passed by the goalpost with just a few centimetres again.
Even the last moments brought some action. Partizan attacked, a pass came from the right side, then the ball dropped to Marković. The midfielder kicked a 20-metre bomb shot, it flew just a little bit above the goalpost.
In the beginning of the second half, in the 47th minute Živković got a great pass. It ended as corner, the corner was shot into the middle and Stanković emerged from the crowd heading the ball to goal. Missed.
Two minutes later the guests got a corner. They missed, but still had the ball. Finally they attacked Partizan’s goal, Lukač had a great save, and after a shorter upheaval around the penalty area the referee whistled offside.
In the 53rd minute Lazović - varietas delectat... - was again kicked to the ground. Free kick, about 35 metres from Vojvodina’s goal line. The shot flew into the middle, right in front of Stanković. All doors and windows were open, but the defender somehow made a very weak kick, the goalkeeper easily saved it.
Three minutes later again Škuletić got into action. He got the ball from Lazović, Škuletić shot, but it wasn’t really a strong one, the goalkeeper saved. A minute later Škuletić was about to give a pass to Lazović, but the assistant waved offside.
In the 63rd minute the world again watched Škuletić. The striker made a distant, flat shot, the ball was dropping and passed near the goalpost with just a little. Then the referee called for smoke pause, while the fans had a great time. The game continued after 2 minutes.
In the 67th minute Lazović got the ball after a fantastic Branko Ilić - Živković - Branko Ilić teamwork. The shot flew onto the side net.
Then nothing special happened for about 10 minutes. The game was going mostly on Vojvodina’s half. They could get to Partizan’s area very seldom, and even then they couldn’t keep the ball there for long time. The 77th minute brought a Partizan-corner. Vojvodina defenders headed the ball out, that dropped to Marković. He shot, but it was weak and didn’t mean much danger for the guests’ goal line.
Another 10 minutes came, when mostly substitutes brought the only excitement. Here I must note, Partizan’s defense line did a wonderful job. The Branko Ilić-Stanković-Petrović-Ćirković axis was on 100 % efficiency.
Lukač didn’t have too much work
In the 88th minute Živković made a distant shot to Vojvodina’s goal. In the meantime Partizan’s net got on fire, literally. Vojvodina’s fans threw a firecracker behind Lukač. A firefighter quickly came and took the burning stick away before it would have made harm.
Here let me ask a question: why doesn’t Luka get any more chance than this? He is a good player, he can position himself very well, can switch pace quickly and he even scores goals. Why is it so, that he is exiled to the bench, just like Fofana?
The very last moments still had some excitement left. The 90+2nd minute gave a chance to Marković to make a 35-metre shot, that flew out of the field above the goalpost. A minute later Alivodić fired the remaining gunpowder, but his shot flew out high above the goalpost.
Then it was celebration time.
Highlights:
Facts:
Location: Partizan Stadion
Number of spectators: 8000
Referee: Nenad Đokić (assistants: Milovan Ristić, Dalibor Đurđević - 4th assistant: Dejan Petrović - goal line assistants: Aleksandar Vasić, Róbert Kis-Csepegi)
FK Partizan: Lukač - B. Ilić, Ćirković, Stanković, Petrović - A. Zivković (Luka, 89.), Marković, Drinčić, S. Ilić (Pantić, 82.) - Škuletić, Lazović (Grbić, 77.)
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
Vojvodina: Milinković-Savić - M. Živković, Pekarić, Babić, Nastić - Alivodić, Tumbasević, Novaković (Sekulić, 74.), Poletanović (Stojanović, 86.) - Veselinović, Gaćinović
Head coach: Zoran Marić
Goal scorer: Škuletić (33.)
Yellow card: A. Živković (20.), M. Živković (52.), Poletanović (74.), Stanković (90+2.)
Current championship standings:
1. Partizan 28 points
2. Crvena Zvezda 26 points
3. Vojvodina 25 points
4. Čukarički 21 points
5. Novi Pazar 19 points
6. OFK Beograd 17 points
7. Spartak Zlatibor Voda 16 points
8. Mladost 16 points
9. Jagodina 14 points
10. Rad 11 points
11. Donji Srem 11 points
12. Borac 10 points
13. Napredak 10 points
14. Radnički Niš 9 points
15. FK Voždovac 8 points
16. Radnički 1923 5 points
(photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
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