Coronavirus and a Day of Mourning: Business as usual at Humska 1

I was sat in a cafe putting the final touches to an article, ready to head over to a friend’s house to watch the match on TV.

Such is the “new normal” of following your football team during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Then I got a call from another friend. “Want to go to the match?” Kick off was just an hour away, and no fans were allowed. But my journalist mate often has a spare pass and, as has been the case many times when fans were allowed, nobody had taken him up on the offer.

I’d forgotten my mask so had to rush to a pharmacy and pick one up for just 16 dinars (12 pence), and hopped into a taxi looking forward to watching Partizan live for the first time this season. 

Classical music calmly echoed around the taxi and I remembered, no “joyful” music was allowed in Serbia, by law, until Monday. Odd? Yes, I thought so too.

Politics and Football Don’t Mix? Try Religion and Football

The Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Irinej, had died the day before and the government had announced three days of mourning for the religious leader. 

No music, but football was okay? My girlfriend explained something about football not being around when the Bible was written. I couldn’t be bothered to check if there was any mention of music in the good book so off I went.

As I stood outside the main entrance to the ground waiting for my mate and the not-so-hottest ticket in town, there was more than just an eeriness due to the lack of fans around the place. In fact, we’re quite used to that at the Stadion JNA – last season the average attendance couldn’t have been more than 3,000 (the ground holds 30,000 officially). 

Usually, raucous punk music blares from the speakers. The fans’ band, Grupa JNA, solely dedicated to Partizan – all sports, not just football – have released three albums to date and all the black-and-white faithful know the words to each song. And then, before kick off, the club anthem “Da Volim Crno-Bele” (I Love the Black-and-Whites) rings out.

But today, nothing. The announcer went through the line-ups, a minute’s silence was observed, and the players had to find some motivation from somewhere.

I made my way through the press entrance to the side of the pitch and back up the stand to the press box – just a few metres away from my usual spot in the East Stand. 

Inconsistent Favourites

Partizan were hosting Proleter from Novi Sad. A win would see the Belgrade side leapfrog the main team from Novi Sad, Vojvodina, into second, pending their game against league leaders Red Star on the Sunday. 

While fighting it out for second spot may sound like something to relish, Partizan fans have bemoaned their team’s performances this season. Fans’ favourite, Savo Milosevic, was sacked at the end of August after lashing out against Vojvodina at a pitchside microphone against Vojvodina, and not everybody is happy with the return of Aleksandar Stanojevic.

While manager Stanojević did guide the black-and-whites to their last Champions League group stage appearance, he was also in charge the following season, when Partizan suffered a humiliating exit from Europe at the hands of Shamrock Rovers. 

Known for his negative style of football, Stanojević prides himself on being difficult to beat, something that doesn’t sit comfortable with a set of supporters that know their team has the budget to outclass every team but one in the league. 

He’s brought back some former players that supporters and journalists alike feel lack the required level to bring success and his results have been mixed in his six weeks or so in charge. 

Exit from the Europa League in the Qualifying Rounds to Charleroi from Belgium meant that Partizan should be able to focus on the league. However, just two games later, they threw away a lead late on against 10-man Metalac. They’ve also suffered defeat in Niš, and been unconvincing in wins in Subotica and at home against Bačka Palanka. 

Now was the time to prove the doubters wrong following the latest international break. However Stanojević had already poured scorn on the idea that the black-and-whites would run out easy victors, praising Proleter for their defensive ‘organisation’ in his pre match conference. 

Partizan Belgrade v Proleter Novi Sad

The hosts did, however, start with a strong line-up, despite a couple of surprises in defence and in goals. The main change seeing young Aleksandar Popović between the sticks, as Partizan looked to fulfill their U21 quota in the absence of winger Filip Stevanović – reportedly on his way to Man City.

The visitors, meanwhile, had no trouble in filling that quota, with four players under the age of 21 in their starting line-up and a further five on the bench.

As was expected, Partizan dominated possession but gave the ball away cheaply in the early stages. Players who are usually reliable, such as Saša Zdjelar, Takuma Asano, and Israeli captain Bibras Natho, were all guilty of losing the ball more than once.

It took until the 30th minute for any real chance of note, as the hosts as they created a few attacks in quick succession. Flowing moves down the right brought Miljković, the full-back, into play. He set up a great chance for striker Holender who fired straight at the ‘keeper, and put in a good cross for Šćekić, who could only tamely head wide. 

Asano then sprung into action on the right, breaking quickly and putting what looked like being a perfect pass into the path of Holender, but a Proleter defender slid in at the last second and just diverted it wide.

After that, the visitors put ten men behind the ball and targeted Asano, giving him no space to run and tacking hard. This was the Proleter that Stanojević had warned about. 

The second half started much like the first. Partizan were again guilty of giving the ball away cheaply while still having the lion’s share of the ball. 

A corner fell kindly at the second time of asking early on, but it fell to centre-half Vujačić who could only sky it high into the empty South Stand, where the raucous Grobari would usually be standing. 

Natho offered the next promising moment, cutting inside on his right and beating three players, forcing a good save from the visiting ‘keeper, who was determined to do everything in his power to stop the home side from scoring. 

That was Natho’s last contribution, as Partizan brought on two players as they looked to up the ante. Seydoubah Soumah, the diminutive attacking midfielder back from an injury sustained in the first derby of the season, and Lazar Marković, back from Coronavirus, ready to breathe new life into the match.

And it almost paid off immediately! The ball bounced kindly to Marković from a cross, but his first touch from a tight angle could only see him fire high and wide. 

Just a minute later, and Partizan broke again. A lovely ball through to Holender saw him awkwardly get a touch to it just inside the box just before the defender could get there, leaving the trailing leg only able to bring him down. Penalty to the hosts.

Holender stepped up in the absence of Natho, looking for his first goal in Partizan’s colours, but his tame shot was comfortably palmed away by the ‘keeper who was staking his claim for the man of the match award. 

A triple change from the visitors suggested they may have thought that they could steal it, but Partizan continued to dominate with the new changes simply reinforcing Proleter’s solid line. 

A rare corner for the visitors in the 90th minute was easily dealt with by Popović, who quickly distributed to Marković to start a counter attack. The ex-Liverpool man took a heavy touch and lost the ball. 

He couldn’t catch his man and did everything in his power to bring down the attacking red shirt, but Jovan Ilić just powered past him and was almost through on goal. A thundering effort came crashing off the bar, evading the on-running attacker for the rebound, and actually providing Partizan with the chance for the counter they initially wanted. 

Directly from that, the black-and-whites broke down the left, a cross in was poorly dealt with by the visitors’ defenders. The ball fell to Miljković on the far side and his cross spun off the back of the defender lying on the floor straight into the path of Holender. The attacker flew to meet the ball with a volley that left the ‘keeper stunned and beaten as it went into the corner of the net.

The Hungarian international raced towards the corner flag in front of us and ripped his shirt off, barely able to contain his emotions at finally grabbing his first goal for Partizan, and atoning for his earlier mistake. 

The fourth official’s board went up, and the five minutes of additional time flew by with Partizan seeing out the game comfortably to see another nervous victory that put them within six points of the league leaders – for 24 hours at least. 

What Next?

Red Star went on to reopen the gap to nine points in comfortable fashion the following day, and so it was back to business as usual then, despite the distractions of Coronavirus and the days of mourning. Partizan know they have a mountain to climb if they are to get even close to the title this season.

Attention now turns to the cup on Wednesday, where the black-and-whites have a strong recent history – they’ve appeared in the last six finals, winning four. 

That game? Against Metalac Gornji Milanovac who managed a point with just 10 men the last time Partizan came to town. Stanojevic will be under no illusions that his side need to improve if they want to lift the trophy once again.