Partizan shine through despite off-the-field woes

A bank holiday weekend with no football didn’t make for a quiet period for the black-and-white half of Belgrade. Partizan were rocked by the news that leading goalscorer and arguably best player in the league, Takuma Asano, had unilaterally terminated his contract on Sunday morning.

The Japanese winger released a statement in which he said the club owed him a ‘significant’ amount of money and that he’d regularly received his paycheck late. The club hit back saying that they’ll be taking the matter to FIFA and they consider his termination as a breach of contract. They were, it seems, hoping to cash in on his fantastic on-the-field performances in the summer.

Fans took to social media to berate the club for letting this happen. Many pointed to the number of other issues with payments in the recent past, while on-the-pitch results haven’t been up to scratch. The club’s former Vice-President has also taken a swipe in recent weeks, and it seems there will be protests calling for change very soon. 

A number of players also waded into the debate with goalkeeper, Vladimir Stojković, saying Asano had ‘betrayed’ the players. Ex-Liverpool man Lazar Marković echoed his captain’s words suggesting he couldn’t have had the ‘season of his life’ without the rest of the team. 

Manager Aleksandar Stanojević struck a more conciliatory tone, noting that he’d enjoyed working with the winger, and that he was disappointed that discussions weren’t held before it got to the point of no return. Despite his kind words, he couldn’t have been happy to have been left without his star player, and was forced to a change of style as his side took to the field just three days later.

Lazar Marković and Seydoubah Soumah were also missing for the visit of TSC Bačka Topola, so Stanojević had to conjure up a makeshift team with few options on the bench – two players over 35 and seven under 21 were among the 11 reserves. 

TSC Bačka Topola: A rollercoaster ride

TSC made the trip south on the back of an indifferent run of form. However, they’ve stolen the headlines this season for all the wrong – and particularly upsetting – reasons. 

During the winter break, their manager Zoltan Sabo unexpectedly passed away. He’d guided them to promotion to the Serbian top flight and to a spot in Europe during his three years in charge. 

Former Serbia boss, Mladen Krstajić took the reins in difficult circumstances and guided them to five games without defeat in his opening spell. But they’ve been inconsistent since, and have far fallen away from the European places. 

They have a new state-of-the-art stadium in the pipeline, scheduled to open later this year, and rumours have it that Hungarian President Viktor Orban has helped finance it – Bačka Topola being a Hungarian-majority town in northern Serbia. 

Partizan v TSC: A game of two halves

Despite the off-the-field strife for Partizan in the last few days, they went into the match as favourites. The sun shone down on the Stadion JNA on a glorious Wednesday afternoon, and it had the feel of a pre-season friendly – especially knowing that both teams had nothing to play for. 

The visitors survived an early scare as young Nemanja Jović fired wide from a one-on-one – created by the creative maestro, Bibras Natho in midfield. From then on, they dominated proceedings. 

They pressed high into the Partizan half and forced several errors from the on-loan Olympiacos centre-half Svetozar Marković. Nenad Lukić fired wide in the eleventh minute and Djuro Zec had a call for a penalty waved away in the twenty-fourth. 

TSC grew more and more confident and started really exploiting Partizan’s weaknesses. Mihajlo Banjac twice caught Partizan right-back Aleksandar Miljković sleeping and would have put the visitors ahead were it not for the toe of Vladimir Stojković defending the home goal. 

It was all one-way traffic, with the hosts only managing one shot on target – and that from over 30 yards – in the thirty-seventh minute. They had Stojković to thank again just before half-time, as he blocked Lukić from point-blank range. Partizan would have been relieved to hear the whistle.

Managers love to say that issues beyond their control don’t influence the players, but it seemed to anyone watching that Partizan lacked the creativity that Asano brought so often this term. Who knows what Stanojević said during the break, but it seemed to work.

The black-and-whites came out of the blocks in the second half, and Natho was instrumental in pinging the ball over the top of the defence, creating space for the wingers and strikers. Filip Holender tested the ‘keeper within a few minutes and then the breakthrough came on 53. 

Natho linked up well with left-back Slobodan Urošević in an attacking position before deftly chipping the ball through to Miloš Jojiç. The ex-Dortmund man cleverly backheeled it to the oncoming Urošević who was brought down before he could control the ball. Up stepped Natho to add to his series of penalties without a miss since joining two years ago. 

Partizan went on to show that they had the quality to see off their opposition and just 15 minutes was enough to do the job in style. Jojić was denied by the ‘keeper before Vujačić headed wide from a corner.

Just a minute later and Natho expertly intercepted a pass on the half-way line before again sliding a perfect pass through. Holender was alone on goal and couldn’t miss. 2-0 to the hosts. 

They only had to wait another four minutes before wrapping it up. Jović showed his potential as he closed in on goal from another sublime ball from midfield – this time from Saša Zdjelar. The youngster’s shot was parried into the path of Jojić who got his reward for following in eagerly. 

Manager Stanojević’s smile was visible from the other side of the pitch and he quickly rang in the changes, bringing on four of his young subs along with experienced Milan Smiljanić. 

They showed some hunger and almost got a fourth, however they were guilty of trying to walk it in, with each of the five attackers touching the ball but none shooting despite at one stage having just two defenders to contend with.

TSC showed ruthless efficiency as soon as they won the ball back from that chance. Two-touch football all the way up the pitch resulted in the ball ending up with Borko Duronjić. He took one touch to cut inside and fired his second straight into the corner of the net to reduce the deficit.

Despite having just seven minutes to get two goals the visitors showed some fight and looked to take advantage of Partizan’s relative inexperience on the pitch. The hosts looked scared but showed some professionalism as they fouled high up the pitch and kicked the ball long and into touch to break up TSC’s play. 

Lukić fired wide from a good position, which proved to be the best chance of the closing stages. Partizan rode out the final minutes and duly celebrated at the final whistle. They didn’t look too threatened in the second half to need to breathe a sigh of relief but the weight of Asano’s departure has certainly shed a few pounds with that victory.

What next?

Rumours abound as to what Partizan’s real financial situation is. Many newspapers are saying that they’ll need to reduce their wage bill by 50% next term to keep their heads above water. That would surely mean losing Natho, who was so instrumental in this victory, as he has been so often this season.

Other reports suggest Partizan are close to bringing back joint top scorer from their last title-winning season, Leonardo Da Silva Souza. 

One thing is for sure, if they want to compete next season and close the gap on bitter city rivals, Red Star, they can’t afford to scrimp and save. 

The black-and-whites look set to compete in the new UEFA Conference League next season, which is unlikely to attract the same calibre of player as Champions League Red Star will be able to – even if Partizan had the money. 

The two sides face off in the Serbian Cup Final later this month with Partizan hoping to stop it from being two trophyless seasons in a row. They may not be able to rely on 15 quality minutes against stronger opposition to do just that. 

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