The boys are arriving at the stadium
(photo: Twitter)
The match was played behind closed gates, UEFA banned Steaua at the beginning of this year for their fans' racist behaviour.
We attacked already in the 2nd minute. Petrović kicked the ball towards the goal line from the left. Two minutes later Romanians were running up to our penalty area, but up there they lost it in a way even an U6-player would feel ashamed. (Balažic thanked and passed the ball out of the danger zone.) In the 7th minute again Steaua attacked. Hamroun sent the ball to Alcenat with an Oxford trick. Alcenat shot, Živko Živković saved.
In the 10th minute Aboubakar got a great pass from Petrović on the left. He ran up and kicked the ball in the middle to Bojinov, but goalkeeper Cojocaru saved. Two minutes later again Romanians ran up to our hal, now Tade tried to shot, but missed. In the 13rd minute again the home team could have an attack, but Živko Živković was in the best place, at the best time.
The first 15 minutes brought a rather vehement pace. Both teams ran a lot, had dangerous attacks (Steaua had a bit more of them) and didn’t play it gently. Instead they were so rough, that in the 17th minute Bojinov left the field with a painful face. He was injured so much that he couldn’t continue the game. Šaponjić came as his substitute.
In the 24th minute Andrija Živković made a shot from 20 metres, but the Romanian goalkeeper saved. The ball got to Aboubakar, he also shot, Cojocaru performed a great save, ending the attempt in a corner. The kick was headed to the goal line by Jevtović, Steaua’s goalkeeper saved even this one with a spectacular movement.
Then around the 30th minute there were less and less attempts. The pace didn’t get any slower, but there were a lot of lost passes and rough movements, especially by Romanian players. None of the Partizan players had any memorable actions, maybe Aboubakar had some slight tryings, but without success. There was practically no attack at all, the two goalkeepers could have done crosswords at the two sides of the field. Only the 40th minute brought a momentum by Andrija Živković, passing it greatly to Šaponjić. Šaponjić shot, but a defender blocked his attempt, ending it in a throw-in.
There was one more attempt left at the end of the half by the Romanian team. Tade made a distant shot, Živko Živković saved.
At the beginning of the second half, in the 47th minute Popa dribbled himself inside of our penalty area. He shot, it was a dangerous try, for our great luck his shot flew out above the crossbar. A minute later Andrija Živković tricked himself through the right side, but his attempt ended in a corner. The kick was punched out by the goalkeeper. Šaponjić grabbed the ball, he shot, Cojocaru caught it.
In the 57th minute Hamround had a sudden, distant shot to our goal line. Živko Živković demonstrated his great skills and reflexes, pushing the ball to corner.
The second half was more or less the same as the first. There were barely any goal attempts, the pace was still fast (though not that fast as in the first half), with still a lot of wrong passes and many fouls. The battle on the field was equal, none of the teams could get the control into their hands. Sometimes Andrija Živković tried to run up and dribble, but his passes to the middle were always blocked by the defenders.
Finally in the 59th minute Vulićević passed the ball to Brašanac from the right to the middle. Brašanac headed it to the goal line, but it was too high.
Then in the 62nd minute Andrija Živković passed it greatly to Vulićević on the right. Vulićević thanked, then took a swing and shot the ball to the net from about 13 metres. 0:1
(screenshot)
In the 65th minute we got a free kick from approx. 17 metres from the goal line. Jevtović stood behind the ball, he shot, Cojocaru again saved with marvellous reflexes.
At this point came 10 minutes when nothing on Earth has happened. Players kept on running and passing, sometimes kicking into each other, but there were no goal attempts or shots. Maybe around the 76th minute a Romanian player kicked the ball towards the goal line after it was passed here and there around Partizan’s penalty area, but even that was too high. Average Fan in the meantime made a comfortable place, sat back and watched the game feeling satisfied. All right, all right, there aren’t many goals or humiliating the opponent, but we’re still on the lead with that one goal. How great it will be when Steaua come to Belgrade to play in front of crowded tribunes full of blood-thirsty Grave Diggers. We win over them easily and march into the play-off with chins high. Such thoughts come to the mind, and the unsuspicious fan even starts to hum a little song, something like "nanananaaaaa nananananana, parni valjak melje, nema stajanja".
In the 80th minute Živko Živković threw himself to the way of a shot, probably just to have some excersise.
Then in the 81st minute Steaua got a free kick, about 20 metres from our goal line on the right. The ball was shot into our goalmouth, where Varela rose up to the skies and headed it into our net. 1:1, God damn it.
Afterwards, in the 83rd minute the Captain, Saša Ilić joined the game. Babović came off. I swear, until this point I did not notice Babinjo on the field.
The stream collapsed in the 90th minute. Checking the official match report I didn’t miss out much, Brašanac got a pass from Andrija Živković, but shot it too high, above the crossbar.
Facts:
Venue: Arena Nationala, Bucharest, Romania
Number of spectators: -
Referee: Kevin Blom (assistants: Bas Van Dongen, Patrick Langkamp - 4th assistant: Danny Makkelie) - NED
Steaua Bucharest: Cojocaru - Alcenat, Papp, Varela, Tosca - Muniru, Breeveld (Tahar, 75.) - Popa (Tudorie, 65.), Hamroun (Mihalcea, 90+2.), Chipciu - Tade
Head coach: Massimo Pedrazzini
FK Partizan: Ž. Živković - Vulićević, Balažic, Fabricio, N. Petrović - Brašanac, Jevtović, Babović (Ilić, 83.) - Aboubakar (Ninković, 70.), Bojinov (Šaponjić, 19.), A. Živković
Head coach: Zoran Milinković
Goal scorers: Vulićević (62.), Varela (81.)
Yellow cards: Popa (40.), Fabricio (58.), Varela (64.), Breeveld (73.), N. Petrović (76.)
Return match will take part next week.
(Unmarked photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
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