Partizan against Crvena Zvezda, played in front of a full stadium. If the football world wanted the beautiful game to return, this serves as the ultimate approval.
The two Belgrade rivals met on Wednesday evening in the Serbian Cup semi-finals, and it was decided by the Israeli national team captain - Bibars Natcho.
Partizan hosted this tie at Stadion Partizana, which was electric and packed as usual for a derby game. Red Star entered this game after securing their 3rd league title in a row last week, along with new head coach Dejan Stanković. However, Zvezda haven’t won the cup since 2012, and has seen Partizan win every edition since 2016.
Eventually, it was meant to be a Black and White day - as Savo Milošević’s boys came out on top in a hot and tense game. The only goal was scored in the 58 minute, as Nigerian Umar Sadiq dazzled around Miloš Degenek on the wing, nicely set up Natcho, who then slotted home and ran to celebrate with the raucous fans.
In an interview conducted with him earlier this year by BabaGol, Natcho stated that he dreams to score in the Eternal Derby - a feat he achieved today, and would most likely go down as one of the biggest goals he scored in his successful European career.
Partizan held on to their lead, and retain the local bragging rights, after completing their third win in four matches against Red Star, all without conceding a single goal.
The cup final will pit them against Vojvodina on June 24th. Both teams are also battling for second place in the league, and will meet four days prior to that in a potentially crucial league game in Novi Sad.
Thumbnail photo by FK Partizan’s official Twitter account
