FK Partizan - Vojvodina 3:2 (superliga, round 37 - play-off, round 7)

Despite it was the last round of the season, again there were less than few spectators in the stadium. (The official report mentions 4000.)

Saša Ilić warming up

(photo: partizan.rs)

A few minutes before start

I could catch this image, and it’s too beautiful not to share it with you. Partizan stadium’s tribunes in the foreground, St. Sava Cathedral in the background

(screenshots)

(photo: Twitter)

Teams arrive

(screenshot)

The match had a heavy start, Vojvodina got a free kick already in the 3rd minute, about 18 metres from the box. The shoot was too wide. Two minutes later they got another free kick. The cross arrived from the left, but the referee whistled it off, as one of our defenders was pushed down to the ground.
Then came the 6th minute. We got a corner kick, Mihajlović kicked it to the goalmouth, where Milenković raised up and headed it into the net with a classic movement. 1:0!

(photos: partizan.rs)

Both teams attacked and ran a lot, there could be no complain for the pace. Vojvodina started an attack right after the kick-off. A cross came from the right, Meleg shot it to the box, missing it just with a few centimetres. In the 13th minute Saša Ilić ran up on the right with the ball and crossed it to Bojinov in the middle.
Seriously I haven’t seen such fumbling in my life as that was presented by Bojinov here. (Or if I still have, it was very long ago.) All doors and windows were wide open, but he could still fumble it away. You can watch it in the highlights at the end of the blogpost from 1:40, but only for those with strong nerves. (I warned you.)
In the 15th minute Vojvodina got another free kick, 20-22 metres from the box. Meleg shot, Kljajić had a fantastic, spectacular save.
Meanwhile on the southern tribunes fans made an amazing demonstration. They hung a rope across the tribune and hung all those T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoods they stole/robbed/tore off from Crvena Zvezda-fans. There were those with CZ-logos, Delije Sever-logos, even with Olympiakos-logos. Then they ritually burned these (often terribly dirty) clothes to ashes, while chanting tongue-in-cheek, vulgar rhymes.
You get photos:

(photos: Twitter)

There’s even a video about it:

In the 18th minute Brašanac got the ball after a free kick. He shot it to the box, it was too high. It was his turn again in the 22nd minute. He ran up, dribbled, then shot, but it wasn’t powerful enough to land in the net. The goalkeeper caught it.

Darko Brašanac some time during the game

(photo: partizan.rs)

After this Vojvodina made an immediate counter-attack. Bogosavac stopped them in the last minute, making the attempt end in a corner kick. In the 25th minute another Vojvodina-attack arrived from the right. Rosić (if I could see his shirt number well) crossed to the middle, someone headed it to the box, barely missing it.
A minute later Mihajlović arrived at Vojvodina’s penalty area from the left. He dribbled himself to the middle, then shot and scored, like it’s written in the Big Book of Football. 2:0!

(photo: partizan.rs)

The 29th minute brought another of Bojinov’s great (?) moments. Mihajlović crossed to the middle, Bojinov attacked, he even shot, right into the goalkeeper.
Vojvodina’s first goal came in the 32nd minute, after an embarrassing ball-losing by Partizan. Meleg was right there, he grabbed the ball, ran up and shot it into the box next to Kljajić, who ran out of the goalmouth. 2:1
Two minutes later Nastić had a shot from the left, Kljajić had a great save.

This was the point when I realized there was a relatively peaceful atmosphere on the pitch (despite the usual fouls that always happen on football games). No fights, no yelling, no pushing each other around, yet there are goals, attempts, pace, like on an average football match.
Oh, wait. Everton didn’t play today, so there was no one to pick up useless fights with the opponent.

In the 38th minute we made Vojvodina stuck a bit into their penalty area. We passed the ball around, finally Mihajlović shot from the left, onto the side net.
The last minute brought another dangerous-looking action - well, it would have been dangerous if the ball hadn’t ended at Bojinov. Golubović passed it to the middle, but I have no idea what was going on with the Bulgarian, whether he fumbled it away again, or - AGAIN!!! - he was slower than a snail, nevertheless a defender from the guests tackled him easily.

To the neighbourhood, with lots of love

(photo: Twitter)

The pace slowed down for the second half. The first actual attempt came in the 53rd minute. Lukić ran up in the middle, then passed it to Saša Ilić. The Captain passed back to him. Lukić wanted to shoot, but he kicked the air instead of the ball.
We were leading to 3:1 in the 61st minute with an own goal that literally ached. Rosić wanted to block one of our attacks, but either the ball hit him and flew away in the most possible twisted way, or he kicked the ball into the worst direction, nevertheless instead of the (probably original idea) kick-out/downfield kick the ball flew into the middle of the net with such a fantastic arch you can barely see even at action goals. The goalkeeper desperately ran back to the box, but it was impossible to save this, even if he had stood on the goal line. 3:1

Deep inside I felt for Rosić. It could be a terrible feeling.

In the 65th minute Jovičić sent a distant shot to our box after a free kick, it was too wide. Then in the 73rd minute it was already 3:2. Meleg got a pass in the middle and shot right there, from 20-22 metres. That’s what they call cannon shot.
Vojvodina sped up, they definitely wanted to equalize. In the 77th minute Vukčević (if I could see well) sent a distant cannon shot to our goal after a free kick, but instead of hitting it, he sent the ball out of the stadium. In the 82nd minute Vojvodina got another free kick. Now Meleg shot, Partizan-defenders cleared, though as I could see, it was very close. Another Vojvodina free kick came in the 85th minute, again by Meleg, it ended in a corner kick.

Young Birmančević arrived in the 88th minute as a substitute for Mihajlović

(photos: partizan.rs)

Vukčević sent another cannon shot to our box in the 90th minute, Kljajić saved. Finally, in the 93rd minute there was one free kick left for Vojvodina at our penalty area line, but it ended in the wall. This was the moment of the final whistle as well.

(photo: hotsport.rs)

This is one of the most touching moments of the game, if not the entire season. This photo says more than a million words

(photos: partizan.rs)

Match highlights:

Facts:

Venue: Partizan Stadion, Belgrade
Number of spectators: 4000
Referee: Bojan Nikolić (assistants: Nenad Kurčubić, Srđan Minić - 4th assistant: Uroš Stojković - goal line assistants: Dejan Dimitrijević, Novica Anđelovski)

FK Partizan: Kljajić - Vulićević, Milenković, Jovanović, Bogosavac - Brašanac, Jevtović, S. Ilić - Golubović (Lukić, 46.), Bojinov (Vlahović, 65.), Mihajlović (Birmančević, 88.)
Head coach: Ivan Tomić

Vojvodina: Kordić, Lakićević, Rosić, Miletić, Nastić - Sekulić - Malbašić, Paločević (Jovančić, 58.), Babić, Meleg - Ašćerić (Vukčević, 68.)
Head coach: Nenad Lalatović

Goal scorers: Milenković (6.), Mihajlović (26.), Meleg (32., 72.), Rosić (61. - own goal)
Yellow card: Vulićević (35.), Rosić (58.), Brašanac (62.), Jevtović (74.)

End result of the play-off:
1. CZ 54 points
2. Partizan 40 points
3. Čukarički 39 points
4. Vojvodina 36 points
5. Radnički Niš 35 points
6. Borac 30 points
7. FK Voždovac 25 points
8. Surdulica 25 points

End result of the play-out:
1. Mladost 31 points
2. Spartak Subotica 29 points
3. Metalac 28 points
4. Rad 27 points
5. Javor 26 points
6. Novi Pazar 25 points
7. OFK Beograd 18 points
8. Jagodina 15 points

We-know-who’s are the champions, hooray, applause and congratulations.
LOL, just kidding.
Eventually we made it to the 2nd place. Thanks to this and to our cup winning we can enter Europa League. Čukarički and Vojvodina will join us. What is already sure that we enter the Liga in the 2nd round of the qualifyings. The draw will be on 20th June.
As for the play-out: Jagodina is dropped out together with OFK Beograd that had a surprisingly terrible performance this season. Napredak and Bačka Palanka qualified from the prva liga, for the latter one this will be the first season in the superliga.

Javor Matis - FK Partizan 1:2 (superliga, round 29)

I have to confess you all: in secret I can’t wait in every season for Partizan to play against Javor at an away game. Every single time I’m amazed by Ivanjica, the town where the stadium of Javor Matis can be found. It’s surrounded by mountains, with thick forests on the mountain-sides and beautiful little houses around the place.

(photo: groundhoppingsrb.blogspot.com)

(photo: blueunionbelgrade.com)

As an extra the sun was shining beautifully above the Dinari Alps

(screenshot/ArenaSport 1)

In secret I’d love if Partizan played more against Javor. Or if Partizan had a stadium in Ivanjica (as well), and played there (as well).
As for the match, we didn’t waste much time. In the 5th minute Saša Ilić passed to Bojinov in the middle. He forwarded the ball to Mihajlović. Mihajlović dribbled among the defenders, then kicked the ball with a flat shot right into the box. 0:1
In the first 20 minutes we possessed the ball quite a lot. We had been continuously there around Javor’s penalty area - just with no goal attempts. Still the home team was stuck on their half. They could break out once, in the 7th minute, but Šaranov interfered.
In the 19th minute Lukić got the ball after a corner-kick. He shot, it was too high. The home team immediately ran up for an attack. Miletić arrived on the left and crossed to the middle. Bandalovski blocked. Throw-in for Javor, they were back right there to our goalmouth, finally, if I could see well, Gogoua cleared the area.
Afterwards we got a row of corner-kicks, at least four, and we missed out all four chances. Once Mihajlović crossed to the middle from the right. Bojinov was about to receive, but once again, not for the first time, and for surely not the last time he missed it out, with just a step behind the ball, it was a pain to see.

My previous blogpost came to my mind when I was grumbling about strikers. I was sure, we would be totally useless even with a striker - I’m not happy that finally I was right (more or less).

Then in the 29th minute Bogosavac passed to Lukić. Lukić arrived on the left, then crossed to the middle - most probably to Bojinov, but Crnomarković appeared out of the blue. The defender obviously wanted to block, but for his unluck the ball dropped from his feet right into the box. Own goal. 0:2

Never mind, we can still celebrate

(photo: partizan.rs)

In the 32nd minute Javor got a free kick approx. 25 metres from our goal line. The kick left the field above the crossbar. In the 36th minute the ball dropped onto Dražić’s head after a throw-in. Dražić forwarded it, it was dangerous, but Šaranov caught it.
As the game passed by, Javor possessed the ball more and more. In the 37th minute an attack came on the right. Docić got the pass, he immediately shot from the distance, it was too high.
Three minutes later they missed out a great chance. Javor attacked on the right side, then the attacker crossed to Gafurov on the other side of the field. Gafurov barely missed it. One of our defenders pushed the ball out through the baseline. After the corner-kick there was a big goalmouth scramble, finally Jovanović kicked the ball downfield. In the 43rd minute Javor again tried. Dražić possessed the ball, our defenders desperately tried to tackle him, without success. Finally Šaranov punched it downfield.
Javor kept on pushing, but they didn’t have too many actual attempts. Here at the end of the first half we got a bit stuck on our side and it seemed that we didn’t really know what we wanted.
It didn’t get much better even later on.

By the way, does anyone know what’s going on with Brašanac? Since the eternal derby he is like his own shadow. Earlier he was always in play, organizing attacks, tackling opponents, passing, crossing the ball and he was dangerous to the goal line numerous times. Now he has been invisible for weeks. I can barely hear his name during matches. Even if he gets the ball, he seems to try to get rid of it as quickly as possible. What happened to him? What’s wrong with this otherwise great, loyal Partizan-player, who is typically this "silent, reliable basic player" of the team?

Second half, 47th minute. Jovanović ran up in the middle with the ball and passed to Bojinov. He wanted to forward it to Mihajlović, but a defender blocked.
I mentioned it only because this was the one and only event for long minutes that was worth to mention.
In the 56th minute Bogosavac and Dražić were wrestling for the ball on the right side. Finally Javor’s player won and dribbled himself to the middle. He wanted to pass to his teammate arriving right there, but Bandalovsik threw himself into the way.
In the 63rd minute Mihajlović suddenly ran up, after Javor’s entire defense line seemingly fell asleep. For the home team’s great luck their goalkeeper was still awake, ran out of the goalmouth and saved.
Javor continued to pressure us, all in vain. We played this "come what may"-kind of game, as if we entered the field with absolutely no tactics.
Then in the 73rd minute Miletić had a distant shot to our goal. Šaranov wanted to save, but... as if he wanted to catch a butterfly instead. He jumped to save Miletić’s shot, but the ball dropped out of his hand and rolled away. Dražić was right there, he took the chance and shot, right into the middle of the net. 1:2, one of the most embarrassing goals we got, seriously.
The goal fired Javor up, they attacked even heavier. They couldn’t break through our defense though, even though, well, to be very honest, our backline wasn’t on top either. Our defenders kicked the ball to wherever they were looking at. We didn’t even try to pretend anymore that we know what we were doing. We played the most outrageous football.
In the 87th minute we could somehow build up an attempt. Bogosavac ran up on the left and crossed to Kosović on the other side. Kosović shot and hit the crossbar with the ball.
Javor kept us under pressure, but they couldn’t equalize. At the very end, in the 94th minute Stojaković had one last shot left to try with, but Šaranov saved.

(photo: partizan.rs)

Highlights:

Facts:

Venue: FK Javor stadium, Ivanjica
Number of spectators: 2000
Referee: Dejan Santrač (assistants: Dejan Potočan, Jovica Milin - 4th assistant: Matija Olajos-Nagy - goal line assistants: Aleksandar Vasić, Róbert Kis-Csepegi)

Javor Matis: Đogatović - Gajić, Crnomarković, Milović, Miletić - Eliomar (Josović, 24.), Docić, Ajuru (Stojaković, 62.) - Đokić, Dražić - Gafurov (Zečević, 78.)
Head coach: Mladen Dodić

FK Partizan: Šaranov - Bandalovski, Jovanović, Gogoua, Bogosavac - Kosović, Brašanac, S. Ilić (Jevtović, 57.) - Lukić (Golubović, 86.), Mihajlović - Bojinov (Vlahović, 57.)
Head coach: Ivan Tomić

Goal scorers: Mihajlović (5.), Crnomarković (29., own goal)
Yellow card: Gajić (26.), Gogoua (43.), Milović (90+2.)

Current championship standings:
1. CZ 81 points
2. Partizan 51 points
3. Čukarički 50 points
4. Borac 45 points
5. Radnički Niš 45 points
6. Vojvodina 43 points
7. FK Voždovac 40 points
8. Surdulica 38 points
9. Javor 35 points
10. Mladost 33 points
11. Metalac 32 points
12. OFK Beograd 28 points
13. Novi Pazar 28 points
14. Spartak Subotica 26 points
15. Rad 23 points
16. Jagodina 23 points