That's it. I'm dead.
No joke.
This post is being written by a decaying corpse, that still makes a twitch here and there while typing.
Geez, wasn't it a tough match.
At first nothing special seems to be there. 3:2, what a great evening. Lots of goals, surely it was superb, the team won, so what's this nervous tic?
Well, nothing special, indeed, just the fact that the two Azeri goals were shot within the first 20 minutes. The first came right in the 11th minute. As for the 3 Partizan goals, only one (1) of them was actually scored by a Partizan-player.
You see it now, right?
(Defibrillator does not help anymore.)
Also the Turkish referee was spreading yellow cards as much as if he was given extra payment for it. And if one of the Latin-American players demonstrated his acting abilities, he showed immediately the yellow card - to the Partizan-player.
Here come the boys...
So, players came out to the field and started to run here and there half-mad. (I mean "half-mad" that both teams seemed to be very nervous.) Right in the 2nd minute one of those latino players laid down in the grass (who knows, maybe he was sleepy...), the referee gave a free kick to the guests. And the free kick landed in Partizan's net. And if the linesman hadn't been waving for offside, even now it would have been 0:1.
In the 4th minute a huge Partizan-chance was missed. (There will be more of this kind...) Vulićević passed the ball to the middle, it jumped from the goalkeeper right in front of Ninković. The midfielder shot, but one of the defenders ran, jumped, crawled, slid and saved the ball about half millimeter before the goal line. The ball rolled out through the sideline. Throw-in for Partizan, the ball was dropped to Lazović, but his shot flew out close to the goalpost.
It was still within the first 5 minutes... Believe me, the entire match was like this, this crazy, this nervous, when after a while you give up screaming, you just gnash.
In the 6th minute the defense line saved a dangerous Neftchi-attack. Corner. A minute later Vulićević was kicked to the ground hard. The free kick flew out to the stadium taking a solar orbit, the ball was brought back from Dragan Mance street.
A match moment: Nemanja Petrović passes, the opponent jumps on the ball like an orangutan on the tyre swing
Azeri players, mostly those Brazilians, well, God knows what sort of stuff they're fueled with, they ran a lot and too fast, they jumped on every possible ball, kick and pass and once they got the ball, they gave it to each other with these annoying, short passes, while Partizan-players rushed after them desperately.
Don't take me wrong, none of these Brazilians were anything special. It's fact they were fast, but it got proven as well that they collapse and fade into the average as soon as the opponent is just a bit stronger mentally than them.
Then in the 10th minute Neftchi started to pressure Partizan more and more heavily. In this minute Lukač saved a shot, the ball got out, corner. This corner ended up in another corner, but after this the guests did not make any more mistake... :( It was Cruz, with an "indefensible" goal, he shot it into the net just a few steps from the goal line, with full force. 0:1
And they kept on attacking, aggressively, tirelessly, not sparing both themselves and the players of Partizan, nor the grass. (For the end of the match the entire field was full of bumps, sods were laying all over.)
The next 5 minutes were spent by Partizan trying to attack. Every time either the referee whistled for offside or Neftchi defenders simply pulled them off to the ground. The referee usually just waved "go ahead" with a so generous gesture. Partizan-attacks broke on the defense line, goalkeeper Stamenković was just standing against the goalpost laughing.
Typical match scene: Škuletić in a "sandwich" of 2 Neftchi-players
Then it was 0:2. Again an indefensible one. The Azeri team got a corner, and the ball again landed in front of Cruz after stirring in front of Partizan's home. The Brazilian shot it in with a phlegmatic move.
It still does not make the facts any different... Not even knowing now, how fast and dangerous Neftchi strikers were.
In the 18th minute Stamenković practically scythed off Grbić, who arrived fast to the Neftchi penalty area. Some complained here for penalty kick, but the referee was not much in a compromising mood. He even gave yellow card to Grbić.
Neftchi kept on attacking, fast and annoying, Partizan counter-attacks were like a butterfly's fart. In the 20th and 22nd minute only the Heavenly Forces (and Lukač) saved the team from another goal. And the Azeri team was pressuring still tirelessly, our defenders worked hard to catch them.
Then in the 25th minute came another huge chance for Partizan. The ball was passed by Petrović to Grbić. Stamenković ran out, Grbić passed the ball to Ninković, the midfielder missed the "all doors and windows wide open"-chance.
There were not just one or two of such heated moments, when the referee had to interfere
In the 29th minute came the first goal for Partizan.
(I did not write "Partizan-goal" and I did it on purpose.)
The team got a free kick, Drinčić was standing behind the ball. The distance from the goal line was about 30 m. The midfielder kicked the ball into the penalty area, where it hit Cruz and fell into the net. 1:2
That's it. To je to, as local fans would say.
In the 31th minute came that yellow card wave, when the referee warned Partizan-players instead of the acting Azeris. The first victim was Ninković, while one of those in red jerseys were playing the dying mother empress while rolling on the field.
Yet when one minute later Škuletić was stopped by body checking
"stopped"... I expressed myself so sophistically, didn't I?
the referee again waved "go ahead".
I bet Škuletić did not find it sophistical at all
In the same minute Partizan equalized with a great goal. Grbić got the ball and he lobbed it above Stamenković with a movement that made fans scream. The ball fell right into the net. 2:2
That's it. Stamenković missed it with just a few centimeters, but that was enough.
In the 34th minute came Partizan's first corner...
But the ball was still possessed by Neftchi way too much. It seemed like so, that when Partizan could get the ball, they spent long minutes passing it to each other without much ideas. Then the attack broke on Neftchi's defense line, and the Azeris made a very rough counter-attack. Within a few moments they were at Partizan's penalty area. Or if not, they sent a bomb kick from 30 metres, like the one in the 42nd minute, thankfully saved by Lukač.
In the last minutes a lot of time was wasted with medical attendance (again one of the Neftchi-players laid down on the grass to sleep) and in the last minute of the extra time the Turkish referee gave a free kick to the guests. Thank God they missed it.
Half time.
Nothing changed even after the break. Neftchi kept on attacking aggressively, possessing the ball, making very fast counter-attacks. The first 5 minutes passed this way, Partizan could do only one counter-attack, but Grbić missed it. In the 53th minute Partizan got a free kick, but Lazović kicked Ninković's ball high, it flew out to the neighbouring 25. Mai Museum.
The 54th minute brought another huge (and missed) Partizan-chance. After an amazing Brašanac-Lazović-Vulićević interplay Lazović fell on the ground clashing with the goalkeeper, the arriving Partizan-defender's shot left the ground flying out just next to the goal post.
So did chances come, one for Neftchi, then one for Partizan. All were dangerous and all were missed. A Neftchi-try rolled out through the line, then Partizan's ball flew out just by the post. The match's pace was still fast and hectic, but Azeris got to Partizan's home a bit less often. As for the other side, Stamenković "pulled down the window-shades".
In the 64th minute Lukač again had a great save, then fans started to cheer and shout loud, because Saša Ilić appeared at the sideline, ready to battle.
He came for substituting Lazović, who personally handled him the captain's armband worn by Stanković until that point
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Saša Ilić AGAIN had to sit on the bench.
Then Partizan took the lead.
(See, Ilić comes up and it means goal. Another question is, what sort of goal it was, but still, goal is goal.)
In the 69th minute Lazović passed the ball, but it flew ahead just being missed by an arriving Partizan-player. It hit Yunuszade and dropped into the net. 3:2
The Average Fan made a facepalm and did not know whether to laugh or cry.
This goal somehow shook up Partizan, they could more or less bring the game under their control. The pace slowed down a bit. And then, in the 80th minute came Fofana, as Škuletić's substitute.
WHY ONLY IN THE 80TH MINUTE???? WHY???...
He even had a new haircut
Nothing much could be done by him though, yet he can say he played in this game. All that happened left was that even he got a yellow card in the extra time, because the referee kept himself to the "acting Azeri = yellow card for Partizan" rule. (I bet this new rule was made by him, right before the match, in the locker room.)
At the very end Partizan again missed a huge chance, and finally it was the end.
<dramatic>
For me, too.
</dramatic>
Highlights:
Facts:
Location: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 11 000
Referee: Hüseyin Göcek (linesmen: Mustafa Emre Eyisoy, Orkun Aktas; substitute referee: Suleyman Abay) - TUR
FK Partizan: Lukač - Vulićević, B. Ilić, Stanković, N. Petrović - Ninković (A. Živković, 60.), Grbić (S. Ilić, 70.), Brašanac, Drinčić - Škuletić (Fofana, 80.), Lazović
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
Neftchi Baku: Stamenković - Cruz, Yunuszade, Bertucci - Abdullayev (Sebastian, 72.), Flavinho (Masimov, 81.), Wobay, Ramos, Caue, Seyidov (Imamverdiyev, 90.) - Nfor
Head coach: Boyukagha Hajiyev
Goal scorers: Cruz (29. - own goal), Grbić (32.), Yunuszade (69. - own goal), then Cruz (11., 17.)
Yellow cards: Grbić (19.), Ninković (31.), Stanković (45.) Drinčić (65.), Fofana (90+1.), then Flavinho (7.), Bertucci (53.)
(Photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
