A fierce European derby noticed away followers set their rivals’ stadium on hearth through the match as firefighters rushed to the scene to place out the blaze.
Partizan Belgrade followers set hearth to the seats away at Purple Star Belgrade (Picture: Getty)
There was chaos within the derby between Purple Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade as issues fairly actually acquired fiery on the Rajko Mitic Stadium. The match was suspended and firefighters needed to rush to the stands to place out a blaze began by Partizan followers within the away finish as they misplaced 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 entrance within the Everlasting derby earlier than half-time and Marko Arnautovic, the previous Stoke Metropolis and West Ham United striker, doubled the lead within the 56th minute. By that time, the hearth had already Moments later, the sport needed to be halted with Purple Star 2-0 up. That was as a result of rowdy Partizan followers had set hearth to the stands with enormous flames engulfing a bit of purple seats within the away finish. Firefighters rushed to tame the hearth and the match resumed within the sixty fourth minute.
The hosts went on to win 3-0 with Aleksandar Katai including a 3rd within the 77th minute. The victory strikes Purple Star 4 factors away from their rivals on the high of the league, with 13 video games nonetheless to go. The Serbian league splits into two teams after 30 matches, with the highest eight and the underside eight. Purple Star, in first, will play the groups sat second to eighth within the SuperLiga standings as soon as to find out the ultimate desk and the winner of the title.
That is the ultimate season wherein the SuperLiga will encompass 16 groups, as it’ll shrink to 14 groups subsequent season. Which means 4 golf equipment, moderately than two, will probably be relegated to the Serbian First League. In 2027-28, Serbia’s high flight will lower additional to 12 groups.
Purple Star are Champions League regulars and have been within the group stage in every of the final two seasons, shedding residence and away to Manchester Metropolis in 2023-24. They famously beat Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool 2-0 at residence in November 2018, the identical season the Reds went on to win the competitors.
This yr, Crvena Zvezda (Purple Star) – as they’re recognized of their residence nation – are within the Europa League and drew 1-1 with Celtic in September. The Serbians face Lille in a two-legged play-off to achieve the spherical of 16. They received 1-0 away in France final week forward of this coming Thursday’s second leg on residence soil.
The match briefly carried on regardless of the hearth within the stands (Picture: Getty)
Riot police watch on as seats burn within the stands (Picture: Getty)
A firefighter attends to the blaze on the Rajko Mitic Stadium (Picture: Getty)
In the meantime, Purple Star centre-back Milos Veljkovic mentioned following the derby win over Partizan: “I believe we performed a mature sport. Within the first half, they did job of urgent, however we scored the primary objective on the proper second and that meant quite a bit to us.
“We performed even higher within the second half and deserved to win. I thank the followers for coming. It was the most effective video games I’ve ever performed, actually thanks for the whole lot.”
Whereas his defensive companion Strahinja Erakovic added: “An vital victory. We deserved to win. We’re making ready for Thursday, now each subsequent sport is a very powerful for us. I additionally thank the followers.
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“I am not essentially the most proud of how I performed at the moment. It does not matter that we received 3-0. To not be impolite, however I believe that is an actual energy of us and them proper now. We might have performed higher within the first half and the outcome might have been higher. We [still] confirmed that we’re 5 occasions higher group than them.”
Partizan burning the stadium of Crvena Zvezda through the derby tonight! ???????????? pic.twitter.com/2lYZ0RcrVI
— ???????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????? (@thecasualultra) February 22, 2026
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