Can Partizan join the elite?

Partizan have defended the league title; they will lift the trophy meant for the best Serbian team for the 21st time and get another opportunity to try and reach Champions League through the modified qualifying system starting July 15.

The UEFA president Michel Platini has kept his pre-election promise and with the new system gave the countries ranked below number 12 the opportunity to compete for five places in the elite European competition. Therefore the black-whites have a strong chance to repeat the success from the 2003/04 season, the only time they played in the Champions League, as the top-tier teams such as Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Bayern will no longer stand in their way.


In Dragoslav Stepanovic’s opinion is Partizan will not leave anything to chance and will be fully prepared and motivated for the beginning of the qualifying campaign.
- “Partizan have the ideal opportunity to enter the Champions League in this easier system and without the greatest European teams as their final obstacle. First of all, black-and-whites need thorough psychological preparations for those matches, because they will be in a privileged position for the draw due to the years of their participation in qualifications, and therefore they will automatically be labelled as favourites. That will place the team under pressure because they have the obligation to confirm their quality from stage to stage. I don’t think Partizan will miss this chance, but first they have to realize they’ll be favourites. You see, we’re often not aware of our quality, because we get stuck with our regular Serbian league-level games, where the oppositions rarely venture out of their own penalty area, waiting to concede a goal. The game is usually decided the minute they let in a goal. That’s why we need the international stage, to see just how much we can do, and if we fail again, it’ll be much harder in the future. Partizan have already showed they can stretch their limits, they took a 2-0 lead against Fenerbahçe and were on a par with Stuttgart for 70 minutes, but the question is how long they can keep up like that in tough matches,” said Stepanovic.
This experienced Serbian coach has a few tips that could help black-whites on their path to the European football elite.
- “I don’t want to give any advice, but the fact is that Partizan, as already champions, are in a position to rest some key players for the remainder of the season, and then return them in time for preparations for the qualifications which start on July 15. Of course, it is important to keep the team together and maybe reinforce defence and midfield with some new acquisitions, while the attack is quite good,” says Stepanovic.
In the 2005-06 season Partizan had a great opportunity to qualify for the Champions League group stage, but Pierre Boya was less fortunate in the penalty shootout than Newcastle’s Milivoje Cirkovic, so Petrzalka reached the group stage at the Belgrade team’s expense. Black-whites’ coach in that season Vladimir Vermezovic calls for caution.
- “There are no more weak opponents; other teams also see their chance in this new qualification system. Partizan do stand a good chance of making it through to the group stage of the Champions League, but rest assured it will be a tough affair. Almost all other major teams from the leagues from the region invest more money and raise the level of their organization, so they too leave nothing to chance. Partizan will avoid playing Romanian sides in the qualifying process, but there are teams from Cyprus, who had a Champions League representative this season. We do possess the quality, and we fail to reach the group stage, we just don’t deserve it at the moment. I think Partizan should build a team for the long-haul,” says Vermezovic.
Adem Ljajic, Partizan’s prodigy player, has recently said for the club’s website his greatest wish was to stand at the Champions League anthem in September in Belgrade.
- “This is a great opportunity for Partizan and I hope we manage to get to it as we have a good team. The entire club is organized at top level; we have proven we are the best in Serbia and the time has come to try ourselves out in Europe. When Partizan played in the Champions League in 2003, I was at home in Novi Pazar watching the games on TV, and I was only 12.”