still it would have been so great to win the Cup and put it to the Trophy Room next to the championship title trophy. Dupla kruna, as Serbian fans say, double crown
because every defeat is painful, especially the one we get in the final. But I would keep my mouth shut, if we had been defeated in a fair and good match from a brave and skilled opponent.
But the match was terrible, the referee was beneath criticism, the opponent played everything but fair play beside constantly kicking Partizan players. Additionally we played wrong and disorganised, some parts of tactics made my jaw drop on the floor. (Not definitely by admiration.)
What is especially painful that
with this I might gain some new enemies, but I will still speak it out, it must be spoken out
some Partizan-players played simply horrible. Among them the most prominent was Stefan Babović, who demonstrated anti-football the way he "played" last night.
With this I do NOT want to put the blame on Babović for this defeat. He was just the whipped cream on the top of the cake that was rubbed into our face yesterday.
It was by default a smash on the head for us to put this match to Rajko Mitić stadium. I get that we were the guest team anyway, but I do not want to believe there is no neutral stadium in this city of more than one and a half million inhabitants where a Serbian Cup final could have been placed and played.
I seriously don’t want to get into politics, but what if instead of this surrealistic, off-the-ground Belgrade On Water thing we would invest into such a sports building?
Oh well. We came to win and not to whine. But first, we sing the national anthem.
Grbić: LOL, Babinjo, how beautifully you sing!...
(Babinjo is proud)
Drinčić: He is our singing nightingale...
Brašanac (to himself): Don’t laugh... don’t laugh...
In the 3rd minute Grbić ran up with the ball and passed it to the middle. The only problem was that nobody was there in the goalmouth. Nevertheless Čukarički-defenders thanked this ball-gift. A minute later Čukarički got a free kick, about 30 metres from our goal. Matić kicked, someone in the penalty area crowd pushed it with the head, Živko Živković saved with a box movement.
Two minutes later Čukarički got another free kick. Again Matić kicked, again from 30 metres, now it ended in a corner, Balažic headed it out.
The first 10-15 minutes brought a heavy fight, which is absolutely understandable. Yet there was a lot of brutality, many rough tackles, but it also happened that Andrija Živković was violently kicked to the ground in the 10th minute.
Anyway, a minute later Andrija Živković made a fantastic sprint for the ball, dribbled and passed it to Babović in the middle.
The assistant waved offside
when was that offside?!...
and the truth is, in the meantime Babović was fumbling so much that it would have never ended in a goal, not even if the assistant had eaten his flag.
On the southern tribune referee Glođović and his judging sytle was a serious issue (with other words, Grave Diggers threw violent curses towards the referee, mentioning his family tree heavily). Glođović got angry, whistled, waved to a gentleman with a tie standing at the side of the playing field and not much later the speaker said, if Partizan fans didn’t stop cursing the referee, they would have to leave the stadium.
Nice job, Glođović. I hope, your mum is proud of you.
Fans had a great time.
In the 14th minute Slavoljub Srnić kicked the ball in from the right, Živko Živković saved. Two minutes later again Čukarički had an attempt. Stojiljković got the ball from the right and shot. The ball hit the goalpost. Čukarički still possessed the ball, but they fumbled so long that finally Partizan-defenders cleared the area. A minute later Matić shot from 18 metres, Živko Živković caught the ball. As an answer Volkov ran up with the ball in the 18th minute and passed to Andrija Živković in the middle. He shot, but God knows where the ball flew... In the 23rd minute we got a corner kick. Branko Ilić headed it to the goal, but missed.
Meanwhile it started to rain, the pace slowed down as well. There was still a lot of fight with even more violence, but with a very few actual goal attempts. In the 32nd minute Volkov passed the ball to the middle, where Babović was waiting for it. He was tackled, the attempt ended in a corner. Two minutes later Babović shot from the middle, from 18 metres, but the goalkeeper saved it.
Then in the 38th minute Slavoljub Srnić got the ball. He ran up, dribbled around all Partizan defenders and shot, right into our net. Unbelievable. 1:0
There was one trying left for Partizan in the 43rd minute, but the player (I couldn’t see clearly which one) was pushed down to the ground inside the penalty area. The referee didn’t whistle penalty, of course.
Then we could go back to the locker room to dry a bit the totally wet jerseys.
In the second half we tried to speed up, but it actually resulted a chaotic rushing around. In the 49th minute Drinčić shot from the distance, but it was too wide. Two minutes later we got a free kick, 25 metres from the goal line. Drinčić stood behind the ball, shot, too wide. Three miutes later the very same scene could be seen (free kick, Drinčić, too wide), then Čukarički ran up for a counter-attack. Slavoljub Srnić had a dangerous pass to the middle, thankfully Bandalovski cleared the area.
In the 61st minute Živko Živković had a life-saving action by saving Stojiljković’s bicycle kick.
My gosh, had he scored from this kick, that would have been the ultimate humiliation for us.
A minute later Čukarički missed from a corner, in exchange they kicked Volkov to the ground. Partizan’s defender had a very painful face while laying on the grass. Then something broke in Bojan Ostojić, because he brutally pushed down Babović, then he kicked Grbić on the head with the ball after whistle. (And after all this he was mad to receive a yellow card.)
Then my net connection broke and it wasn’t funny either. The data transmission was on level zero for about 5 minutes, the stream came back to life around the 70th minute. Upon the official match report I missed out an attempt by Grbić’s and Brašanac’s united forces.
Yet the re-starting stream welcomed me with a unique sight.
(photo: Twitter)
I swear watching them was much more joyful than the struggling team on the grass. We started to get more and more desperate and nervous. In the 78th minute Čukarički’s goalkeeper pushed Kojić to the ground, of course we did NOT get a penalty, and the slow motion replay didn’t show clearly when Stevanović touched the ball. In the 80th minute Babović got the ball, but he was fumbling so long that eventually he lost the ball and it all ended in a counter-attack. (His great luck was that Čukarički missed it out.)
It wasn’t the first time Babović fumbled too long and the entire attempt got wasted. It happened earlier on matches that he had a giant, once-in-a-lifetime chance, all doors and windows were open, but he eventually lost the ball. I will be honest again, risking again to get new enemies, but let me ask: if that’s all what he can do, then why is he in the starting eleven? Why can he wear the captain’s armband? A really strict trainer would allow him only to keep the bench warm, but maybe after this - or after what he did at the eternal derby, or rather, what he didn’t do - he would be exiled to the substitute team. You can call me overly critical, but for God’s sake, wearing Partizan’s jersey means a certain kind of responsibility. Also, there are so many extremely talented young player who struggle to get to the senior team for this reason, even if they would give an entire arm to be able to get a chance, even if just as a substitute.
Vulićević couldn’t do much for the team either
The atmosphere on the field was heated. Partizan was stressed, it was visible on our hasty playing style. In the 84th minute Andrija Živković was again brutally, terribly kicked to the ground by Brežančić. Čukarički’s player didn’t just kick Partizan’s midfielder on his leg, but stomped on his feet as well. Živković fell on the ground screaming and laid there in pain for long, medical attendance arrived in a rush.
Brežančić got nothing. Not even a yellow card or maybe a red one. I’m sure two referees out of three would have rubbed a yellow card under his nose for this, plus Brežančić has already had a yellow card, for molesting Andrija Živković in the beginning of the match. But referee Glođović thought for some unknown reason that this tackle from Brežančić, that almost ended in a broken bone is still within the boundaries of fair play. At least we got a free kick that ended in a Čukarički counter-attack. And here again something happened, because Average Fan saw Drinčić yelling at Slavoljub Srnić, almost tearing off the head of the Čukarički-player. Only teammates’ united forces could keep him back from the (most probably legitimate) vendetta.
(photo: mozzartsport.com)
Those who know Nikola Drinčić, they know he is a withdrawn player, barely speaking a word, even when asked he replies with two simple sentences. On the field he focuses only on the game itself. I’m sure Srnić said something very boorish and vulgar to Drinčić, if the fuse has blown this much for Partizan’s player.
And after all these Glođović gave a yellow card - to Drinčić.
Send Glođović to a quarry RIGHT NOW, to at least 10 years of hard labour for this match.
The fierce battle didn’t calm down, the only problem was that Čukarički was playing more and more confident, while Partizan was more and more nervous. In the 87th minute again Slavoljub Srnić shot from 17 metres, too wide.
In the 90+1st minute Brašanac got a great pass from Andrija Živković. He headed it to the goal line, but missed. In the 90+2nd minute we got a free kick, 25 metres from the goal line. That was our last chance. Drinčić kicked it to the penalty area. The ball got to Babović and he wanted to shoot it to the net with a bicycle kick. He missed.
That was it. Final whistle.
Medal ceremony.
Ninković: Okay. Now I close my eyes. When I open it, I want to be in ul. Humska again and it all was just a bad dream...
I think it was Saša Ilić who said after the match with great self-criticism: this performance the team had during the cup final will not be enough for the Champions League.
And he is absolutely right.
Highlights:
Facts:
Venue: Rajko Mitić stadium, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 10 000
Referee: Vlado Glođović (assistants: Dejan Petrović, Nemanja Petrović - 4th assistant: Milan Minić - goal line assistants: Dejan Filipović, Bojan Nikolić)
FK Čukarički: Stevanović, D. Srnić, Stojiljković, Matić, S. Srnić (Mandić, 90.), Regan (Todorović, 64.), Stojković, Ostojić, Bojić, Brežančić, Rendulić
Head coach: Vladan Milojević
FK Partizan: Ž. Živković, Bandalovski, Volkov (Vulićević, 67.), Balažic, B. Ilić, Drinčić, Babović, Brašanac, A. Živković, Grbić (Ninković, 69.), S. Ilić (Kojić, 59.)
Head coach: Zoran Milinković
Goal scorer: S. Srnić (39.)
Yellow cards: Brežančić (9.), Balažic (29.), S. Srnić (58.), Ostojić (63.), Stevanović (67.), Matić (84.), Ninković (82.), Drinčić (85.)
(Unmarked photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
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