FK Partizan - Mladost 3:1 (superliga, round 11)

Despite the goal-rich result it was a slumbery passing-around. Even Mladost’s performance was not more than an "enough-for-a-training-game"-effort.

Kljajić and substitute goalkeeper Jovičić warm up. This was probably the only moment for the whole evening when Kljajić sweated (a little)

Everton killed a Mladost-player (i.e. kicked him to the ground brutally) already in the 8th minute. It was rough, it was the action of a true jerk. I hope Everton said a prayer for not getting a yellow card right there... Afterwards there was a questionnable situation, Đurđić fell to the ground inside Mladost’s penalty area. All slow motion replays from all camera angles showed Mladost’s defender deliberately pushing Đurđić, but the referee didn’t whistle. (Not much later Đurđević fell to the ground inside Mladost’s penalty area the same way, the referee’s whistle kept silent again.)
Leonardo tried to shake up the sleepy atmosphere in the 19th minute. We got a free kick, about 17-18 metres from the box. The Brazilian shot, it flew to the target, the goalkeeper had a great save.
We controlled the game, we possessed the ball, Mladost got stuck on their half, but all that was happening was just some passing-around lvl 5th league veterans. Jevtović had an attempt in the 22nd minute, it was too high. (But at least something happened...) In the 26th minute someone headed Janković’s free kick to the box, but it was way too high, while Jevtović got injured in the goalmouth scramble. He got medical attendance, but it took too long... Finally he got a bandage on his head and was taken off the pitch. (Saša Ilić substituted him.)

Later mozzartsport.com informed that Jevtović had to be taken to Vojnomedicinska Akademija to get professional treatment. He got a plaster on his injury, then he could leave the hospital. He is doing fine, thank you very much, but he will surely not be able to play for a while.

Hero

Other than this the game was such a boredom that Average Fan was rather browsing the news instead... In the 34th minute Leonardo shot from a sharp angle. It was a weak shot, the goalkeeper easily caught it. In the 38th minute we had another weak attempt, the goalkeeper again caught it. Yaaaawn... 40th minute, now Janković had a try, again the goalkeeper saved. Meanwhile it started to rain, players sleepily passed the ball around, sometimes we had a semi-serious attempt. Mladost got stuck at their half and they didn’t really want to break out.
Leonardo got fed up with this fumbling in the 45th minute. He shot a fantastic goal from a 17-metre free kick. The goalkeeper was just watching. 1:0

Leonardo shoots...

...put your hands up in the aaaiiiirr...

Đurđić had a fantastic, bicycle kick attempt in the very last minute, but it was too high.

Marko Golubović on the stands. He came to see the team

There’s nothing much to mention about the beginning of the second half. Both teams had one weak attempt, then all of a sudden Mladost got a penalty in the 56th minute.
I swear I didn’t see what happened. ArenaSport played it in slow motion quite a few times, but even the commentator sounded perplexed. Đurđić was supposed to do something (maybe he played handball?...) - I’m just guessing, as Đurđić got a yellow card right after the whistle. If anybody knows what actually happened, write it to the comment box, thanks in advance.
Nevertheless Bojović put the ball to the penalty spot, shot and scored. 1:1

We took back the lead in the 60th minute. Đurđević scored an fantastic and cheeky goal, passing the ball above the goalkeeper. It was that kind of goal that makes every true football fan scream from amazement. It happened after a Mladost goal-kick. Đurđić grabbed the ball at the half-line and passed it ahead to Đurđević. Đurđević ran up and kicked the ball into the box, above the shocked goalkeeper. 2:1

That certain cheeky kick

Mladost had their biggest chance in the 62nd minute. Pejović headed the ball after a free kick, it was just a little bit too wide.
Mladost’s defenders fell asleep in the 67th minute. Leonardo took advantage and quickly grabbed the ball. He passed it to Bojinov, who just joined the game as a substitute. And this sloth was lucky enough to score a goal right from the first ball-touch. 3:1

It must be communicated with sign language as well (afterwards came the smoke signals, probably)

Mladost had a thin chance in the 69th minute, but Kljajić interrupted. Afterwards not much happened. Bojinov nevertheless - better to be safe than sorry - missed out two attempts. Leonardo also had one, he too missed it out.

Highlights:

Facts:

Venue: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 3000
Official: Aleksandar Vasić (assistants: Matija Olajos-Nagy, Attila Harmat - 4th official: Zoran Široki)

FK Partizan: Kljajić, Vulićević, Balažic, Milenković, Miletić, Everton, Jevtović (S. Ilić, 31.), Leonardo, Janković, Đurđević (Kosović, 76.), Đurđić (Bojinov, 62.)
Head coach: Marko Nikolić

Mladost: Krznarić, Pešić, Šatara, Milošević, Saničanin (Tumbasević, 61.), Protić, Pejović, Radivojević (Simić, 83.), Jovanović, Milosavljević (Odita, 67.), Bojović
Head coach: Nenad Milovanović

Goal scorers: Leonardo (45.), Bojović (56. - pen.), Đurđević (60.), Bojinov (67.)
Yellow card: Krznarić (51.), Šatara (54.), Đurđić (56.), Pešić (81.)

Current championship standings:
1. CZ 28 points
2. Vojvodina 26 points
3. FK Partizan 22 points
4. Radnički Niš 20 points
5. Napredak 19 points
6. Mladost 18 points
7. Spartak Subotica 16 points
8. Rad 15 points
9. Metalac 14 points
10. FK Voždovac 14 points
11. Novi Pazar 11 points
12. OFK Bačka 10 points
13. Radnik 9 points
14. Javor 9 points
15. Čukarički 7 points
16. Borac 7 points

(photos: partizan.rs)

Radnički Niš - FK Partizan 1:0 (superliga, round 36 - play-off, round 6)

A photo leaked out soon before the game about the (alleged) new jersey of the football team for the 2016/17 season. It’s surely not official yet, as there’s no track of it at Partizan’s homepage, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you get the chance now.

(photo: sportskacentrala.com)

It’s rather minimalist in style, but all is clearly visible that is important.
Like the Nike-logo.

Is it just me with failing memory, or was it really Umbro mentioned earlier as Partizan’s official technical sponsor from next season?

But neither this minimalist Nike-jersey, nor the fact we stood up against Radnički with a reserved team can be an excuse for our terrible performance.

Our goalkeeper this time was young Marko Jovičić

Last group hug before kick-off

(photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)

The first chance came in the 3rd minute after a corner kick. Lukić kicked it, the defenders wanted to clear it downfield, but the ball dropped to Bojinov. He shot, right onto the side net. He had another try in the 9th minute from the distance, about 25-30 metres, but it was so high that the ball almost flew out of the stadium.

We did not have a heavy start, to say the least.

In the 11th minute Radnički got a free kick about 40 metres from the box on the right side. Our defenders cleared the area, but the ball dropped back to the home team. Jovanović grabbed it, he shot, it was just a bit too high. In the 15th minute it was again their turn with a corner kick. This time Bulatović headed it towards the box, his attempt was also too high.
Then nothing happened for long... Our attempts - if we had any at all... - were blocked by Radnički-defenders. Both teams fumbled a lot, with almost no attempt or shoot on target.
Okay, there was one in the 20th minute. Marjanović sent a very weak shot to our box from the left, Jovičić easily caught it.
Other than this the one and only thing to mention was that it started to rain heavily around the 30th minute with strong wind. The noise of raindrops could be heard even through the stream.
Radnički attacked more. There was a period when we got stuck in our half. We could break out around the 33rd minute with a corner-kick, but we couldn’t squeeze an useful attempt out of it.
Then in the 40th minute Marjanović got a long pass on the left. He let the ball drop one in front of him on the wet grass, then he kicked it into the net. 1:0
There was one attempt left in the last minute of the first half. Đuričković had an Oxford trick then crossed the ball into the middle from left. Marjanović headed it towards the box, but it was too wide.

Grumpy, soaky wet Partizan-fans. Has anyone noticed that there were no Partizan-banners or flags on the stands? Radnički-fans had huge flags, banners, even pyrotechnics, but the guests’ tribune was bare

This was probably the only Partizan-relics on the tribunes

(photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)

The second half was not better at all than the first. At the beginning the home team had a corner kick, Bandalovski cleared, but it was dangerous. Radnički used the tactics of full pitch press. They spent much more time on our half than we on theirs. Well, let’s make it clear, we had no useful attacks at all. Well, we didn’t have any attack at all. We could get to their penalty area in the 58th minute first, but Bandalovski was tackled. A minute later Radnički got a corner kick, but they kicked the ball on the side net.

Our passes were painfully imprecise. Boys, for God’s sake, please, practice these short, precise kicks, because this was a tragedy!...

In the 64th minute we had a cross to the goalmouth, but the goalkeeper easily caught it.
In the 68th minute we got a free kick about 40 metres from the goal line. Lukić kicked, the defenders headed it downfield. Bogosavac sent it back to the goalmouth, there Gogoua attempted, but the goalkeeper was faster.
In the 71st minute Golubović arrived on the right with the ball. He crossed it to the middle, but Vlahović had a very imprecise attempt, the chance was missed out.
In the 74th minute Radnički got a free kick. Mrkić barely missed the cross. (And thanks to his missed attempt the result was still 1:0.)

Gogoua almost made me cry several times. In one moment he was like a bastillon in the defense line. Then in the next he had such imprecise passes that were a physical pain to watch.

Radnički possessed the ball more and practically kept the game under control. They were combative and got into man-to-man clashes for the ball.

Though it wasn’t really necessary, as our performance was as indisposed as possible.

In the 83rd minute Radnički put our goalmouth under heavy pressure. Finally Apostolović shot, Jovičić saved.
Radnički got a free kick in the 85th  minute, almost at the half line. Marjanović wasted no time, he sent this almost 50-metre-long cannon shot to our box, but thankfully he kicked it into Jovičić’s lap instead.
Our first actual attempt in the second half was in the 87th (!!!) minute. Stevanović got a great pass and immediately crossed it to the middle. Vlahović missed it with just one step, the ball rolled through the goalmouth and eventually out of the field through the baseline.
In the 88th minute a throw-in by Radnički arrived from the left. A home player forwarded it to Đuričković. He headed it to the box, it was too high. Not much later Bulatović had an attempt, that was also too high. Then Radnički again made heavy pressure to our box. Jovanović dribbled, then Mrkić got the ball. He shot, the ball hit the goalpost, and in the meantime it was flag up for offside, the referee whistled it off.
We had one attempt at the very end. Stevanović’s shot was cleared downfield, then the ball dropped to Everton. The Brazilian performed the world’s most painful and probably most imprecise shot ever. (It was way too high, too.)

When a photo says more than 1000 words. Nebojša Kosović after the final whistle

(photo: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)

Highlights:

Facts:

Venue: Čair stadium, Niš
Number of spectators: 4000
Referee: Milorad Mažić (assistants: Milovan Ristić, Dalibor Đurđević - 4th assistant: Nemanja Petrović - goal line assistants: Danilo Grujić, Nenad Đokić)

Radnički Niš: S. Jovanović - Petrović, R. Bulatović, Lakić-Pešić, D. Bulatović - Tomić, A. Jovanović - Đuričković, Apostolović (Todorović, 85.), Marjanović - Mrkić (Mitrović, 90.)
Head coach: Milan Rastavac

FK Partizan: Jovičić - Bandalovski - Gogoua, Milenković, Bogosavac - Lukić, Everton, Kosović - Golubovć, Bojinov (Vlahović, 64.), A. Stevanović
Head coach: Ivan Tomić

Goal scorer: Marjanović (40.)
Yellow card: Bojinov (50.), Lakić-Pešić (51.), Gogoua (86.)

Current standing of the play-off:
1. CZ 48 points
2. Partizan 37 points
3. Vojvodina 36 points
4. Čukarički 36 points
5. Radnički Niš 35 points
6. Borac 29 points
7. Surdulica 25 points
8. FK Voždovac 24 points