SSL: Crvena Zvezda v Partizan preview

Partizan is away to Crvena Zvezda as part of SSL round 24 fixtures.

159^th edition fo Eternal derby is scheduled for Saturday, 6pm CET kick-off.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Crvena Zvezda 63, Partizan 46, Drawn 49

TEAM NEWS

Markovic (knee) is sidelined while Pantic and Ivanovic have recovered from their respective injuries but they are both not fully fit yet.

Partizan bos Zoran Mirkovic on derby game:

-This is the greatest fixture in Serbian football, Eternal derby and eternal dilemma – who`s better, Partizan or Crvena Zvezda. We restarted the season well and I expect fine and fair-play game. Let the better side win.

Point margin is big and it`s not looking good for us. It`s going to be even more complicated if we lose but Partizan players must handle the pressure.

I expect great battle. We are not going to change our strategy much, it`s kind of risky making radical changes now. I don`t expect one team to perform much better than the other. It`s going to be about a moment of inspiration, tiny details and maybe inspiration of a single player.

I know my starting line-up but I can`t reveal it to you now. Compared to previous derby game, we are now short of departed Jankovic and injured Markovic, they were both important players to us. Al other players are available and good thing might be that we worked together over the winter preps and players got to know each other better, game-wise.

Zoran Tosic is fully fit but Pantic and Ivanovic are not fit enough to play full 90 mins

-Crvena zvezda is firm, strong and quality team. They are well-balanced side with top class player like Marin. He might be the biggest threat to us, along with Ben, Simic and Boakye.

Midfielder Goran Zakaric:

-This is surely the biggest game in Serbian football and it`s about prestige now. We played two opening games after the winter break quite well and showed at some moments that we look really good on the field. I think we will fix everything that was wrong so far and I believe we can win it. I have faith in this team and I hope we`ll come back home happy.

I don`t really think about who is going to mark me. It`s on me to play this game in a best possible manner. Of course, we are all convinced we can repeat the performance from corresponding fixture when we looked powerful from the go. We can do it again if we have to same desire from the start.

                                        SSL round 24 full fixture list

March 1, Friday

18.00,  Macva − Rad (Arena Sport TV1 LIVE)

March 2, Saturday

15.00, Vozdovac – Vojvodina

15.00, Spartak ZK – Cukaricki DOO

15.00, Dinamo − Napredak

15.00, Proleter − Mladost

15.00, Radnicki – Radnik

18.00, Crvena Zvezda – Partizan (Arena Sport TV1 LIVE)

March 3, Sunday

15.00, OFK Backa − Zemun (Arena Sport TV1 LIVE)