There was chaos in the derby between Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade as things quite literally got fiery at the Rajko Mitic Stadium. The match was suspended and firefighters had to rush to the stands to put out a blaze started by Partizan fans in the away end as they lost 3-0 to their bitter rivals in a top-of-the-table Serbian SuperLiga showdown.
Arsenal-linked 17-year-old phenomenon Vasilije Kostov put the hosts in front in the Eternal derby before half-time and Marko Arnautovic, the former Stoke City and West Ham United striker, doubled the lead in the 56th minute. By that point, the fire had already Moments later, the game had to be halted with Red Star 2-0 up. That was because rowdy Partizan fans had set fire to the stands with huge flames engulfing a section of red seats in the away end. Firefighters rushed to tame the fire and the match resumed in the 64th minute.
The hosts went on to win 3-0 with Aleksandar Katai adding a third in the 77th minute. The victory moves Red Star four points clear of their rivals at the top of the league, with 13 games still to go. The Serbian league splits into two groups after 30 matches, with the top eight and the bottom eight. Red Star, in first, will play the teams sat second to eighth in the SuperLiga standings once to determine the final table and the winner of the title.
This is the final season in which the SuperLiga will consist of 16 teams, as it will shrink to 14 teams next season. That means four clubs, rather than two, will be relegated to the Serbian First League. In 2027-28, Serbia’s top flight will decrease further to 12 teams.
Red Star are Champions League regulars and were in the group stage in each of the last two seasons, losing home and away to Manchester City in 2023-24. They famously beat Jurgen Klopp‘s Liverpool 2-0 at home in November 2018, the same season the Reds went on to win the competition.
This year, Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) – as they are known in their home country – are in the Europa League and drew 1-1 with Celtic in September. The Serbians face Lille in a two-legged play-off to reach the round of 16. They won 1-0 away in France last week ahead of this coming Thursday’s second leg on home soil.
Meanwhile, Red Star centre-back Milos Veljkovic said following the derby win over Partizan: “I think we played a mature game. In the first half, they did a good job of pressing, but we scored the first goal at the right moment and that meant a lot to us.
“We played even better in the second half and deserved to win. I thank the fans for coming. It was one of the best games I’ve ever played, really thanks for everything.”
While his defensive partner Strahinja Erakovic added: “An important victory. We deserved to win. We are preparing for Thursday, now every next game is the most important for us. I also thank the fans.
“I’m not the most happy with how I played today. It doesn’t matter that we won 3-0. Not to be rude, but I think that’s a real strength of us and them right now. We could have played better in the first half and the result could have been better. We [still] showed that we are five times better team than them.”