Partizan Beats OFK Beograd 3-1 Ahead of Zvezda Derby

Krunic barely made it in time. It was the seventh minute at Humska, the ball fell to Itan Hord, who found himself alone in front of goal, the stands briefly went quiet, and then Partizan’s goalkeeper rushed out and stripped the ball off the striker’s foot with a sliding challenge. Had that first half gone differently, four days after Partizan’s elimination by Getafe in the Conference League qualifiers, the story of Superliga’s seventh round could have taken a very different turn.

Instead, Partizan closed out the evening with a win it badly needed. The black and whites beat OFK Beograd 3-1 in the round’s final match, one that also answered the question of whether the club could still win in the league at all after its European heartbreak.

Partizan took the lead in the 36th minute. Igor Miladinovic, one of the club’s most expensive signings this summer, met a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and fired it into the bottom right corner for his first goal in the black and white shirt. That made it 1-0 at the break, in a half where Partizan had already created chances through Erik Kojzek and seen Demba Sek miss from distance.

In the second half the gap widened quickly. Milan Aleksic first hit the side netting, then in the 54th minute intercepted a poor pass from Vukicevic and beat OFK Beograd’s goalkeeper to make it 2-0. OFK pushed back: Aderoja hit the crossbar after a mistake by Simic, and Krunic denied Rankovic a clear chance as well. At the other end, Demba Sek squandered a two on one break set up by Bogdan Kostic, only for Kostic himself to convert a second assist from Miladinovic six minutes later and make it 3-0. Silue pulled one back for OFK in the 72nd minute, capitalizing on a good run from Aderoja, but there was no time left for a comeback.

With the win, Partizan picked up only its second victory of the domestic season since the Getafe elimination knocked it out of Europe, climbing to 11th place with seven points. OFK Beograd stayed above them in the table despite the loss, in 10th place with eight points.

Whether the club’s leadership and coach Sasa Ilic would keep their jobs after the Getafe exit had been debated for days, so the win over OFK Beograd arrived just as fans and management alike were looking for any sign the league campaign was heading in the right direction. We reported separately that a resignation letter reached the Partizan Assembly during the same stretch, a sign that the mood around Humska had not been calm.

After the match, Ilic did not hide his satisfaction, though he was not without criticism of how his team started.

I am satisfied with the result, you know yourselves what position we were in, these three points are extremely important. We started the match in a confused way, OFK missed a great chance, Krunic saved it. After that the energy was much better, and for the last half hour it was not quite the way Partizan should play, but we were drained after Getafe, so I can understand it.

The coach also confirmed he had a word with the fourth official around the 80th minute, over a foul he felt his team could have handled better, though he did not want to go into detail.

What’s next

Partizan gets no rest. On September 6, the black and whites travel to Crvena zvezda’s stadium for the eternal derby, a match against the team currently leading the table. Ilic looked ahead to it right after the final whistle at Humska.

What the fans can certainly be sure of is that our players will give more than their maximum. We are playing against the league leaders, at their stadium, it will be tough, but we will prepare for it.

Six days remain before the derby, enough time to fix what looked confused against OFK Beograd early on, but not enough to overhaul the season from scratch. Partizan showed it can score three goals when its wide players and substitutes step up, Miladinovic, Aleksic and Kostic proved that within about thirty minutes of each other. The question is whether the same version of the team can hold up at Marakana too, against a rival that started its season faster.