Five or Fifteen? Free Flowing Partizan Deserve Their Minutes of Fame

While most of Europe has been focusing on Man City’s incredible winning streak, Serbia’s top two teams have been quietly going about their business in the same fashion.

League leaders Red Star went into this weekend with 14 consecutive domestic wins (with four Europa League draws and two wins in between) while Partizan in second place, were looking to make it 15 in a row in all competitions.

Just as in Manchester, Partizan faced a city derby, but not against bitter rivals Red Star. They made the short trip up the road (literally) to take on Rad in the suburb of Banjica. 

FK Rad: Form and Fortune

The Sky Blues of Belgrade’s third (or are they fourth or fifth, or even sixth?) team have been flirting with relegation for years, often miraculously escaping with a fine run towards the end of the season as the Relegation Play-Offs take hold. 

But this season there are no play-offs. Due to COVID-19’s impact on last season’s final standings, the league has been extended to 20 teams and everyone plays each other twice. The catch, though, is that six teams will be relegated.

Prior to the Winter Break, Rad were surefire candidates for the drop. However, since the season’s resumption in February, they’d won three of their six games going into the tie against Partizan and a win against the Black and Whites would put them level on points with safety. 

A win against their free-flowing and even freer-scoring opposition may have seemed far-fetched, but Partizan took them seriously. Visiting manager, Aleksandar Stanojevic, talked up the hosts’ chances and named a very strong starting 11 for the tie. Goalkeeper Aleksandar Popovic was the only real surprise, as he took experienced Vladimir Stojkovic’s place between the sticks to make up the quota of two under-21s in the starting lineup.

Stadion Kralj Petar Prvi

The game was to be my saving grace from Serbia’s weekend restrictions. On Friday, the government announced that all cafes, bars, and restaurants must shut from noon on Saturday until Monday morning. And with the sun shining on this March day, it looked like the perfect afternoon for football.

The ground is, to be honest, unimpressive. In fact, it’s a bit of a dive. It consists of two sides – one terrace of six rows behind the goal and a two-tiered stand alongside the pitch that’s yet to be finished.

With no fans allowed, there was none of the usual atmosphere that city derbies usually conjure up and I thought back wistfully to my last few visits when fans were allowed.

I came to the ground on my first weekend after moving to Belgrade in 2015. I stood behind the goal with the Rad ultras, the “United Force.” They were known as one of the hardest, most right-wing groups in the country. I duly kept my mouth shut, as their handful of fans put on a colourful display in a win (I think!) against Spartak Subotica.

The last time I visited, in 2017, I got to see why their fans earned their reputation. I stood with the Partizan fans in the upper corner of the unfinished stand. The Black and Whites came out on top and one fan even climbed up to the top of the scaffolding and found his way onto an outsticking slab of concrete atop the stand and lit two flares!

But it was the actions of the Rad fans that made the headlines. Then-Partizan midfielder, Everton, was jeered with monkey noises and racist abuse from the home fans throughout. Everton responded at the final whistle with a middle finger to the United Force lot, and players, fans and officials all joined in the melee afterwards. 

Thankfully, the lack of fans meant that I was unlikely to witness such ugly scenes this time – although Rad’s Vice President not only condoned the actions of the United Force, she also criticised Everton with a comment I would consider to be racist. She was sure to be present. 

As I made my way from the car park to the ground, I noticed a few young lads in the corner behind the UF’s favoured stand. They had found a spot from which they could see around 60% of the pitch. 

I made my way into the press box and sat on a long metal bench with my notepad.

Rad v Partizan 

The game kicked off with little fanfare, owing to the lack of fans. Partizan immediately looked uncomfortable on the poor pitch, with Bibras Natho, in particular, struggling to control the ball on numerous occasions. Usually the Black and Whites’ Mr. Reliable, even when he did find space in the opening stages, his cross hit a divot and spun away from the target. 

But Stanojevic’s men are patient. During their incredible winning streak, they’ve been happy to wait and tire their opponents, finding the gaps, then the net and then opening the game. And that’s exactly what happened here. 

Just as the hosts looked as though they were able to exploit the space left by Partizan’s attacking full-backs, a misfired crossfield pass was expertly intercepted by Takuma Asano. The Japanese international linked up well with striker Filip Holender and they were away. A perfect pass into the striker’s pass was powefully finished and it was 1-0 to the visitors. 

Holender went close again before Rad mustered up their best chance of the first half. A free-kick from deep was perfectly weighted with the attacker timing his run to perfection to glance it towards goal. It looked as though young Popovic reacted late to claw it from behind the line and the home bench were determined that it had crossed the line. No goal was given, and replays showed that it was the correct decision. 

Rad were made to rue that missed chance right away, as Lazar Markovic battled hard to win the ball in the corner before picking out Natho with a precise cross. All the Israeli captain needed to do was get some kind of contact and he made it 2-0 with ease. 

It was a familiar story, as Partizan reaped the rewards of opening up the game like so often before during this impressive run. On balance, they were fortunate to go in two to the good but it felt like part of the plan. 

The second half started much as the first had finished. Partizan patiently waited for the ball and broke quickly. A lovely move from a quick throw-in saw Natho at the byline in the box. Lazar Markovic called out his name, received the ball, and passed the ball through Holender’s legs to the back of the net to make it three.

With the game seemingly dead and buried, Rad’s manager tried to breathe some life into it by introducing three attacking changes. It almost paid off with a good move down the right ending in a fierce shot across the face of goal.

It was Stanojevic’s wealth of options on the bench, however, that delivered. Partizan’s one-time most expensive signing, Seydoubah Soumah, entered the fray along with young attacker Nemanja Jovic. 

Just minutes after coming on, the diminutive Guinean picked up the ball beyond the half-way line and played a lovely one-two with Jovic. Soumah found himself in the box and turned quickly past two players before firing low from a tight angle. The ‘keeper got a hand to the ball, but there was no way he was stopping it.

Partizan had already lined up three other youngsters to take to the field before the fourth. With the freedom of an additional goal’s cushion, they kept the momentum up, hungry for the ball and more goals for their team. 

They were queuing up on the edge of the box at times and that’s how the fifth came about. Lazar Pavlovic won the ball around 30 yards out and deftly knocked it on to Soumah. He feigned a shot and offloaded wide to Filip Stevanovic who was inside the box. The future Manchester City player could barely miss and fired past the hapless ‘keeper. 

Rad had given up and now Partizan were showboating. They should have made it six on 88 minutes. Jovic was away behind the back four and the outstretched arm of a defender brought him down. The ref was left with no option but to send the defender off, despite the vociferous protests of the home bench.

Soumah hit the bar with the resulting free-kick and the ref drew time on what seemed like another masterclass from Aleksandar Stanojevic and his men. With the memories of 2017 still fresh in my memory, at least, it would have been nice for Soumah to get another one – but the job was already done. 

The Record and Next Steps

With Manchester City’s winning streak coming to an end just after the full-time whistle in Banjica, Partizan may now claim to be the form team of Europe. However, they still sit six points behind their Red Star who have a game in hand too. And that’s all that matters.

The Black and Whites take a break from league action this week, with a cup Quarter Final against another Belgrade outfit, Vozdovac, taking centre stage. With Red Star so far in front it could be their only chance of silverware. The way they’re going, you wouldn’t bet against them.

As for Rad, they looked well off the pace after conceding the first and still sit three points from safety. They face the team directly above them in the table away next week – Javor Ivanjica who only lost 1-0 at home to Partizan a few weeks ago. With the needless red card in the dying moments making things worse, the Belgrade side may be facing an uphill battle for survival this season. 

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