Europa League, round 4: FK Partizan - Skendebeu 2:0

My! Fucking! God!

How long it has been that I was this tensed and nervous before a game. I realized just now how much I missed this feeling.

It would deserve a separate blogpost what a wicked race this match-watching became. The first 10 minutes passed with nervous searching for stream - reliable forces made it sure that I lost absolutely nothing - then the one and only available stream was so ill that it collapsed in every 2-5 minutes. Never mind. I brought you coreo-pictures. (source: twitter.com/SerbianUltras)

The two teams were more than nervous. It was no wonder at all. Everton worked hard to tear Albanians to pieces (for this reason he had a smaller verbal fight with the referee around the 21st minute), other than that not much happened. We had a weird situation (or chance?...) in the 29th minute, an Albanian defender wanted to pass the ball back to the goalkeeper. He did so, the goalkeeper made a goal-kick. He hit Ožegović with the ball, and it seemed that the object (ie. the ball) will roll through the goal-line as an unsaveable hit. Finally it rolled out of the pitch missing the box with a few centimetres, and in the meantime the referee whistled it off for handball. (The slow motion replay did show the ball hitting Ožegović’s arm, the referee was right.)

Referee Carlos Del Cerro deserves all respect and hats off. It was a very difficult, tensed game with two nervous teams and thousands of raging fans. Still he kept impartial and consistent for the whole time. Thank you, Mr. Referee, keep up the great job!

We missed out another chance in the 33rd minute, a cross from the right was too long for Janković. Then in the 38th minute we got a free kick, approx. 30 metres from the box. Tošić stood behind the ball. He kicked...

And DANG! He scored!!! Goooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!! 1:0!!!

For the rest of the first half Stojković had two great saves, Tawamba had a fight with someone (all I could see was the Cameroonian making big gestures and yelling with someone, while the referee was trying to calm down them). In the second half the stream was dying and finally it gave up around the 60th minute. May it rest in peace.

Cursing, spitting, desperate searching on all available stream sites. Nothing. Meanwhile I saw on Twitter that we scored again, now Tawamba. Oh well. I’ll try and watch the goal later. No stream link around the fucking internet, I can’t believe! Fucking direct RTS-stream available only from Serbia. May you all get diarrhea at a public place. Nothing, absolutely no available stream. What can Average Fan do then? Moves to MozzartSport’s site to follow the text broadcast.

I could see there Tawamba’s goal. 66th minute, Ožegović passed to him, all doors and windows are wide open, even the goalkeeper ran out. Even my grandmother (with walking stick and shopping bag in her hands) would have scored. Whatever. The ball was behind the line. That was the only thing that mattered. 2:0

MozzartSport’s text mentioned nothing special for the rest of the game. There was an approx. 12-minute-long idle period when I thought Mozzart’s reporter was abducted by UFO’s, because the page was not refreshed. Then it came to light that it was the game itself being painfully eventless… At the end little Jovanović joined as substitute, then came the final(ly) whistle. Time to celebrate. If the full game is available on YouTube (or anywhere else) be kind and copy the link to the comment box. (You’ll get a virtual cookie.)

Venue: Partizan stadium, Belgrade

Official: Carlos Del Cerro (assistants: Juan Yuste, Roberto Alonso - 4th official: Javier Rodriguez - additional assistants: José María Sanchez Martinez, Santiago Jaime Latre) - ESP

FK Partizan: Stojković - Vulićević, Miletić (bald), Mitrović, Miletić - Janković, Everton, Jevtović, Tošić (Pantić, 82.) - Ožegović (Radin, 74.), Tawamba (Jovanović 88.)

Skenderbeu: Shehi - Vangjeli, Radaš, Jashanica, Mici (Aliti, 65.) - Muzaka, Lilaj, Taku (Sahiti, 89.) - Gavazaj (Nešpor, 68.), Sowe, Adeniyi

Goal scorers: Tošić (39.), Tawamba (66.)

Yellow card: Jevtović (44.), Tošić (52.), Jashanica (65.), Miletić (71.)

Radnički Niš - FK Partizan 0:2 (superliga, round 28)

I’m here, still alive. So is the blog. In the past weeks I either had no energy to post or I was sick, but I keep on trying to update it as regularly as I can.
Okay. Enough of private life. Let’s see the game.
We had an "in medias res" start and attacked Radnički so hard from the very first minute, that they had to work overtime to find their breath. Already in the 4th minute we had a free kick, Janković shot, it was too high. A minute later came Everton and his (also too high) shot. In the 8th minute Tawamba crossed the ball to the middle, Đurđević made some magic (dribbling all around), but he was tackled. Three minutes later Janković’s cross arrived, Leonardo got it, all doors and windows were open, but he was blocked by defenders, and it was also flag up. And so on. We continuously attacked in the first 20 minutes, we didn’t allow the home team even to collapse for the lack of oxygen. There was a suspicious scene in the 22nd minute, Janković fell on the ground inside the penalty area of Radnički. The referee whistled, but not for penalty, instead he gave a yellow card to Janković for acting.

Volkov and Janković. Volkov is still a damn good player, may the Almighty collapse the sky to all the imbecile idiots in Partizan’s leadership for not running head over heels to sign Volkov - and Kojić - back to Partizan, instead they let them sign to Radnički

Then the pace slowed down a bit, but Partizan still controlled the game. In the 31st minute we got a free kick. Leonardo shot it to the box, the goalkeeper had a great save. In the 35th minute Đurđević was dribbling in the penalty area, the goalkeeper saved in the last minute, ending the attempt with a corner kick. Radnički’s first chance to mention was in the 37th minute. Travančić ran up with the ball, dribbled himself through Ostojić, then shot, barely missing the box. Two minutes later Kojić

aaaaarrrggghhhh, it was terrible to see him and Volkov not wearing Partizan’s jersey

crossed to Stojanović. Stojanović shot, it was saved to corner kick. Finally in the 41st minute Radnički had a counter-attack, again Travančić ran up, he shot, it was too wide.

Grave Diggers

In the second half we continued our "attack continuously"-tactics, possessing the ball, the goal was visibly around the corner for us. We had two huge chances in a row, Đurđević shot (and missed) both, first in the 47th minute, when the goalkeeper saved in the last moment, then a minute later he was dribbling and dribbling, then shot, Average Fan almost screamed "GOAAALLL", but instead the ball hit the side net.

Seriously, he missed the box with half a millimetre only. I will have to have a defibrillator at hand for such cases. I’m getting too old for this.

In the 51st minute Kojić missed a shot with millimetres.

Other than this Radnički had no mentionable action in the second half. Kljajić surely got bored to death in the box. Hopefully he had at least some crossword puzzles with himself or something.

Two minutes later Volkov saved from Tawamba in the last minute.

Tawamba was slowly turning into Bojinov. Don’t take me wrong, I like this Cameroonian guy a lot - he is much more likeable than the Bulgarian -, but it was Bojinov who made so much missed-out-barely attempts like Tawamba at this game. I hope though Tawamba will score goals. A lot of goals. 

We attacked, though we started to get more and more tensed. It was a very hard job to break through Radnički’s defense line - well, if Volkov is in the defense line, you can’t break through even with a tank - the home players were ruthless, sometimes on the verge of being unsportsmanlike. Then finally came the 69th minute. Janković crossed from the left, Ostojić pushed it with the head, Đurđević got it, shot and scored. And I’d bet on anything that Volkov let the ball go, just a little bit. Nevertheless a big high five to him. A Grave Digger will always be a Grave Digger. 0:1

Post-goal celebration. Deep in the mass of players you will find Đurđević somewhere

The pace slowed down after the goal. There were barely any attempts, and even those were all missed out. The game was fragmented. The only scene to mention was when Kojić - after he collided with Ostojić and fell on the ground with a painful scream - yelled off the referee, and I don’t say that Kojić was wrong. (The scene happened right at an ambience microphone, everything could be heard clearly.) Then it was already the extra time, everyone was wating for the final whistle, everyone calmed down knowing we made it, when Leonardo got a pass from Kosović and shot it right there. The distance was at least 35 metres (some sources talk about 40), it was visible on the shot that Leonardo probably didn’t mean it too seriously. Yet the ball fell into the net. WHAT A GOAL, WHAT AN AMAZING GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!! 0:2

A well-deserved celebration

These images were made after the game. I have no idea where Tawamba got these sunglasses from, but they were surely great to wear in the reflectors’ light (or not)

"Svi kao jedan"

Highlights:

Facts:

Venue: Stadium Čair, Niš
Number of spectators: 8000
Official: Lazar Lukić (assistants: Milan Mihajlović, Dragan Bogićević - 4th official: Danilo Grujić)

Radnički Niš: Zogović, Volkov, Živković, Stojanović, Travančić (Apostolović, 74.), Arsić, Petrović, Tomić, Noma (Mrkić, 68.), Kojić (Jovanović, 90.), Perendija
Head coach: Milan Rastavac

FK Partizan: Kljajić, Vulićević, Ostojić, Milenković, Miletić, Jevtović (Kosović, 65.), Everton, Janković, Leonardo (Đuričković, 90+3.), Đurđević (Radin, 90+3.), Tawamba
Head coach: Marko Nikolić

Goal scorers: Đurđević (69.), Leonardo (90+2.)
Yellow card: Janković (22.), Perendija (43.), Milenković (45+1.), Volkov (78.), Kojić (86.)

Current championship standings:
1. CZ 73 points
2. FK Partizan 67 points
3. Vojvodina 57 points
4. Napredak 46 points
5. Mladost 44 points
6. Radnički Niš 43 points
7. FK Voždovac 40 points
8. FK Javor 39 points
9. FK Spartak 37 points
10. Čukarički 36 points
11. Rad 32 points
12. Metalac 26 points
13. Radnik 24 points
14. OFK Bačka 24 points
15. Novi Pazar 20 points
16. Borac 18 points

(photos: partizan.rs)

FK Partizan - Borac 2:1 (superliga, round 23)

Dear everyone,
no beautifying, no cosmetics, no retouch, just the raw honesty: This. Was. One. Fucking. Goddamn. Great. Game.
It was exciting, it had a great pace and most of all, we played very well.
Fans hung this banner before the game supporting Everton after that racist incident. Svi smo mi, Evi - we are all Evi (Everton).

In the first half we controlled the game. Borac got stuck in their half playing bunker football. They crossed the half-line first time around the 13th minute. (But even that didn’t last long.) The first 20 minutes didn’t bring any considerable attempt, "only" very heavy Partizan-domination. Borac sometimes tried with a counter-attack, with no success. Practically all their players tried to make traffic around their penalty area for Partizan-players.
Not as if that would have helped.
In the 26th minute Vulićević crossed from the right. Kosović, who celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday, arrived at the best time, shot and scored. GOAAALLLL! 1:0

(photo: mozzartsport.com)

Borac tried over and over again with counter-attacks, but they all died off, they didn’t even reach our penalty area. Meanwhile in the 32nd minute Janković had a great solo running up. He shot, the goalkeeper saved.
In the 34th minute we got a penalty kick. Someone among Borac’s players (probably Ignjatijević) pushed Janković down to the ground. The referee immediately whistled it off and pointed at the white spot. Leonardo stood behind the ball...

...and made it perfect. 2:0

Janković again tried with a shot in the 33rd minute, but again the goalkeeper saved it. A minute later after a huge fault of Borac’s defense line Leonardo grabbed the ball, but finally defenders could tackle him.
Borac’s first attempt to mention was in the 41st minute.  After a corner kick (this was Borac’s first corner kick...) Tiago shot, Kljajić saved, then right there Stefan Mihajlović had another shot, Kljajić saved this one as well.

Tawamba was active, if only he could score

In the second half Borac opened and attacked more, played braver, the game become much more open - another thing is that Partizan still controlled the game. There was a penalty-suspicious case in the 54th minute, again Janković was pushed to the ground, but the referee didn’t whistle it off.
In the 60th minute Leonardo dribbled through the penalty area, he shot, the defenders blocked, it ended with a corner-kick. Three minutes later Tawamba got a pass from Leonardo, he made a cannon shot, pity it was too high.
Borac got a penalty kick in the 65th minute. Janković kicked Tiago to the ground inside the penalty area. Stefan Mihajlović stood behind the ball, he scored, 2:1.

Two minutes later Tiago thought to push the limits. He shot, but it was too wide.
We got a free kick in the 73rd minute, about 17-18 metres from the box. Leonardo shot, the goalkeeper had a big save. Nemanja Mihajlović had a great solo in the 77th minute on the left side. He dribbled to the penalty area and passed to Janković, he shot, too high. A minute later again Neca ran up on the left, this time he himself shot, the goalkeeper saved.

Borac had only one attempt, Punoševac had a shot in the 84th minute, it was too high.

Svi kao jedan - All for one

There was a small celebration in the locker room. The team greeted Nebojša Kosović for his birthday -  Kosović scored himself a birthday gift goal, but after the match he got a cake from the Captain.

Facts:

Venue: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade

Number of spectators: 2500

Official: Ilija Brdar (assistants: Svetozar Živin, Jovica Milin - 4th official: Róbert Kis-Csepegi)

FK Partizan: Kljajić, Vulićević, Milenković, Ostojić, Miletić, Kosović, Jevtović, Janković (S. Ilić, 89.), N. Mihajlović (Đuričkovć, 85.), Leonardo, Tawamba (Jovanović, 90.)
Head coach: Marko Nikolić

Borac: Mišić, Ignjatijević, Marković, Drašković, Kostić (Zoćević, 67.), Marčić (Delić, 46.), Marinković, Tiago, S. Mihajlović, Jovanović (Punoševac, 76.), Živanović
Head coach: Mladen Dodić

Goal scorers: Kosović (26.), Leonardo (34. - pen.), S. Mihajlović (65. - pen.)

Yellow card: Marković (55.), Punoševac (90+2.)

Highlights:

League table will be brought tomorrow.

(unmarked photos: partizan.rs)