On the tribune fence the banner says: Danas je dan da budeš velikan. In English: This is the day when you become great.
Tottenham earned a corner already in the 2nd minute. Lukač made a huge save, the ball hit the goalpost, from there it dropped back among players, but the linesman waved offside in the meantime.
A minute later Partizan led a counter-attack. Volkov was tackled in a not too friendly way, the free kick was headed out by the defenders of the English team. Volkow was pretty much the target of opponent players anyway, he got an elbow into his face in the 4th minute. While he was laying on the field with a painful grimace, Tottenham attacked (the referee didn’t whistle after this foul), but Lukač was at the right place.
The thing is, Partizan showed a great attitude from the very beginning. They played bravely, defenders blocked very well, they tackled the attacking players breaking into great runs, and they rushed up with the ball to Tottenham’s goal line. It was an excellent, exciting match with great pace, numerous Partizan-players had movements of class player level. As if the team had waited for this moment, to show their "lion claws".
Tottenham was puzzled. That’s the truth. They kept on passing the ball to each other, mostly on their own half. Partizan’s players were at everywhere, opponent players rather passed the ball back to the defenders, having no other options, and the ball many times ended at their goalkeeper.
The atmosphere was marvellous.
After 15 minutes came a great Partizan-attack. The shot arrived from the right side, Grbić thanked it and started to dribble in Tottenham’s penalty area. Then passed it to Lazović, whose shot was blocked by defenders. A minute later again came a very spectacular Partizan-chance, again blocked by defenders. In the 19th minute Volkov cleared the area with a fantastic movement.
Match action: Stanković fighting with Tottenham-players
Tottenham was still puzzled. They had a try in the 22nd minute, but the home defense line "rolled down the shutters".
Match action: Branko Ilić was one of the strong men of Partizan’s defense
A minute later the guests again had a weak try. They tried to shoot from the right side, from a very sharp angle, but the ball just flew to the left side of the goal.
It was clear, Tottenham had a much better ball possession than Partizan, but they didn’t really use this chance for their own benefit. There was barely any action, and even if there was some, Partizan defenders blocked it. They passed the ball to each other without showing any ideas, and even if they found a gap where an attacker could sneak in, he instantly got at least two defenders in the face.
The 25th minute brought a great chance. After a throw-in Lazović got the ball. The striker took it and wanted to bombard Tottenham’s net from 4 metres, but again the ball got stuck on a defender.
In the 27th minute the ball got to corner from Ćirković - for whom it was the 1st match in Partizan’s jersey - but Lukač deactivated it, just like two minutes later, when he punched another Tottenham-corner out of the penalty area.
In the 30th minute Partizan attacked again. Grbić came up on the right side and gave the ball to Saša Ilić. The team captain headed the ball towards the goal line, but it flew out above the goalpost.
In the meantime the atmosphere was high in the skies.
The game was going on mostly in the midfield. Tottenham still couldn’t do anything with Partizan’s blocking, Grbić was enthusiastic to make the opponent feel uncomfortable, stealing the ball, running up, tackling, saving, passing, running, he made a great job. Meanwhile both Volkov and Drinčić was a punching bag for opponent players, one of them was almost always on the ground. Pantić could show his talent.
Match action: Danilo Pantić
The 43rd minute brought some sort of attack by Tottenham, but the too far shot ended in Lukač’s hands. The last minute was still good for a great chance. After saving a Tottenham-corner Lukač passed the ball to Saša Ilić. He gave it to Pantić, the young midfielder ran up all alone to Lloris’s place, with only one defender behind him, who was clearly scared to death. The shot was saved by the French goalkeeper.
In the 2nd half Partizan got a free kick after 2 minutes, after Grbić got to the ground. (Davis even got a yellow card for it.) The free kick was placed just a few steps from the line, almost at the corner flag. Drinčić shot it, but the goalkeeper punched it out.
In the 50th minute Lazović got again a chance, but defenders blocked his action. A minute later Grbić repeated it. In the 56th minute Drinčić sent a too high shot to the goal, and the upcoming minutes brought only the excitement of Branko Ilić’s yellow card.
In the 61st minute Partizan again had a great chance. Lazović put himself to action again, but the linesman was again waving offside.
Match action: Saša Ilić facepalms, perhaps after a missed chance
In this half Partizan possessed the ball much more than Tottenham and attacked more. If Tottenham had any actions, they were all blocked by defenders, or the striker missed the ball with just one small step, like in the 62nd minute.
The upcoming approx. 10 minutes brought again puzzled ball-passing by Tottenham, a Lazović-offside and a missed chance, again by him. Then in the 72nd minute Partizan got a corner. It brought a short, but rather uncomfortable chaos inside Tottenham’s penalty area, finally Pantić headed the ball too high.
Partizan got the grip. Great teamwork, brave attacks and tackles, self-confident playing. The 77th minute brought again a chance, Pantić kept the ball very well and passed it to Vulićević. He gave it to Saša Ilić who headed it above the goalpost.
In the 80th minute Lukač saved a dangerous, left-side shot with a great movement.
The rest of the game didn’t bring any more excitement. Partizan mobilized their "energy for emergency times", Tottenham tried their best not to get any goal until the final whistle.
The facts:
Location: Partizan Stadium
Number of spectators: 20 000
Referee: Alon Yefet (linesmen: Amihay Yehoshua, Mahmud, Mahagna - substitute referee: Yehiel Levi Haluba - goal referees: Eli Hacmon, Ziv Adler) - ISR
FK Partizan: Lukač - Vulićević, B. Ilić, Stanković, Ćirković (Marković, 68.) - Volkov (Petrović, 54.), Grbić (Luka, 85.), Drinčić, S. Ilić, Pantić - Lazović
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris - Naughton, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies - Lennon, Bentaleb, Paulinho (Soldado, 60.), Stambouli (Capoue, 72.), Townsend (Lamela, 59.) - Kane
Head coach: Mauricio Pochettino
Yellow card: Townsend (34.), Davies (48.), B. Ilić (59.), Luka (86.)
And there is something else...
This.
(photo: dailymail.co.uk)
This banner appeared in one of the hidden corners of the southern tribune and was kept there for the whole match. It wasn‘t big, just a relatively smaller one, but it had so strong colours that it wasn’t hard to spot it.
I do not have to get into details what it is and what it means. I also don’t have to get into details about what it will mean for Partizan, because UEFA surely won’t pat the head of the team for this.
You, who did it, made it, put it out, waved it,
You are not a fan.
You are not a Grave Digger. You can show off with your scarf, your match tickets, your tattoos, your so-called friends, they do not matter at all.
You are NOT a Partizan-fan.
Yet you left me and a few thousand other Partizan fans in shame.
Because your idiotism bring Partizan a big punishment from UEFA and we can be thankful if it is "only" a money fee or a match behind closed gates, and we won’t be kicked out from Europa League. Because you made Partizan and all their fans look like Europe’s black sheeps, the "rotten, lousy Balkans" whom Europe hates and disdains. You and your asshole friends made it, who thought it would be such a great fun.
You are not a Partizan fan. You are not a Grave Digger.
But I hope your grave has been dug.
One more thought: the opponent’s trainer, Pochettino was praising Partizan’s fans high at the press conference after the match for the great atmosphere. But when he was told about this banner, he got shocked and just said: ’it is unacceptable’.
He was right. You are unacceptable.
But I don’t want to finish this post with such negative thoughts, therefore let me show you this video that was recorded just after the final whistle. A fan got on the field, wanting to ask Lazović for his jersey. He immediately got a bunch of security guards on the back and was pushed outside. But the Montenegrin striker noticed it, ran to him and gave him his jersey.
Ladies and gentlemen,
a TRUE SPORTSMAN.
As soon as there is a video with the highlights, I post it.
(unmarked photos are all from hotsport.rs)
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