Partizan Belgrade – FC Groningen 4-2 (3-0)
Groningen started its first European match in 14 years without experienced Paul Matthijs, who is still unavailable through injury. Just as against Hercales Bruno Silva played at right back, Levchenko played from the start replacing Goran Lovre who had disappointed the previous match. This must have been a major disappointment for Lovre, who was denied the opportunity to shine at the home ground of the club where he played as a youngster. It is safe to say that Groningen played their strongest formation possible.
But despite this, just as against Heracles, Groningen’s started the match disastrous; after three minutes Lazic felt the faintest of touches by Sankoh and dived in the box like he was shot. Latvian referee Lajuks awarded this fine piece of theatrical play-acting with a penalty kick, duly converted by Marinkovic. Whatever game plan Groningen took to Belgrade, it had to be scuppered after this horror start.
After just 16 minutes of play Eric Nevland lost possession leaving Partizan midfielder Zajic free to steam forward and produce a low shot for just outside the penalty area to which Bas Roorda had no reply, 2-0 to Partizan. Groningen’s first (!) reply came after 28 minutes when Nevland put a low ball into the box for Glen Salmon. Partizan ‘keeper Kralj just beat Salmon to it, sending the ball behind and leaving poor Salmon in a heap in the goal. This collision looked to have injured ‘the man of glass’, as on 30 minutes Salmon limped off with a hamstring problem, to be replaced by winger Cornelisse. The game was going from bad to worse for the heroes on green and white.
In the last 15 minutes of the 1st half Groningen seemed to take a bit more control over the match but one has to ask the question if this could be contributed to a slightly improved Groningen performance, or Partizan taking the foot off the accelerator a bit. It did not however bring any goal chances for Groningen, to the contrary, the last chances before half time fell to Partizan. First a Marinkovic cross was missed by all his fellow players with the ball whizzing through the penalty area harmlessly, to the relief of all that was Groningen. A 2-0 halftime score looked to be the result of the first half. Marinkovic however though otherwise and unleashed a shot that although touched by Roorda found the back of the net for a horrific 3-0 score at half time. An early exit out of Europe not only looked likely, but a truly humiliating score was looming large above Groningen’s heads with half the match still to be played.
The second half started with two unchanged teams. Nothing much happened in the first 10 to 15 minutes except for a booking for Rnic who fouled Fledderus. It was the same Fledderus on 58 minutes who put a glimmer of hope back into Groningen hearts when he volleyed in a clever Nevland pull back via the underside of the bar. Groningen looked a bit more purposeful in that second half, but what hadn’t changed were the erratic decisions of the referee and his assistants who ruled time after time again promising Groningen attacks offside, some of which very dubiously. Partizan on the other hand didn’t relax in that second half and was looking for goals too. It was Roorda who denied Marinkovic his hattrick when he tipped his shot over after a header back by Sankoh that was just too short, highlighting Sankoh’s generally poor game.
Kruiswijk had to be replaced by Svedik after 63 minutes with an ankle problem. On 72 minutes Roorda again had to put a ball behind for a corner after a well taken free-kick by Djordjevic. After that Partizan corner kick Van De Laak was replaced by Suarez although at that moment unknown to Groningen manager Jans, Nevland was struggling with a muscle problem and should have been replaced.
The 500 strong Groningen contingent in the ground was hoping to keep this score as it was, and thus keep hopes alive of reaching the Uefa Cup group phase. But just as in the 1st half Partizan struck again in the final moments of the half. A Partizan goal-kick was not dealt with properly by the Groningen defence leaving Zajic to fire in the 4-1, all but burying Groningen’s dreams to go through. This time however the last word of the match was left to Groningen. An injury time long ball by Roorda was headed on by Nevland to Suarez who squeezed through two Partizan defenders to lob the ball over Kralj for the 4-2 end result.
The result leaves Groningen with a theoretical 32% chance to progress to the next round, as according to Uefa statistics teams losing 4-2 away have a 32% chance to make this up in the home leg. Add to this the aura of invincibility of Groningen at the Euroborg and the fanatical home support, the group phase still looks a possibility for Groningen. But the performance needs to be a lot better, as well as coping with bad referees and cheating opponents. We’ll know in a fortnight.
Line up FC Groningen
1C Roorda; 2 Silva, 3 Sankoh, 4 Kruiswijk (63’ 12 Svejdik), 17 Van der Linden; 21 Lindgren, 13 Van de Laak (73’ 20 Suarez), 8 Levchenko, 22 Fledderus; 9 Salmon (31’ 11 Cornelisse), 10 Nevland.
Rest of bench: 16 Van Loo, 5 Florén, 7 Lovre, 15 Seedorf. Injured: 6 Matthijs.
Line up Partizan Belgrado
25 Kralj; 2 Cirkovic, 4 Djordjevic, 24 Rnic, 13 Lomic; 31 Smiljanic, 18 Lazic, 6 Zajic, 20 Marinkovic (86’ 16 Radosavljevic); 15 Odita (90'+4’ 26 Bosancic), 30 Mirosavljevic (67’ 19 Vukelja).
Rest of bench: 27 Pantic, 17 Markovski, 23 Lazarevic, 33 Nikolov. Suspendedt: 3 Bajic.
Attendence: 15.000
Scores: 4’ Marinkovic (pen.) 1-0, 16’ Zajic (-) 2-0, 43’ Marinkovic (Mirosavljevic) 3-0; 58’ Fledderus (Nevland) 3-1, 90’ Zajic (deflection) 4-1, 90'+3’ Suárez 4-2.
Referee: Lajuks
Ass. Referees: Braga en Pukijans
Fourth official: Sipailo
Yellow cards: 24’ Van de Laak, 56’ Rnic, 66’ Lindgren, 90’+1’ Vukelja
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