Valiente scores his first Partizan goal, free-kick beauty from Pantic

Partizan reached National Cup semis after a 4-0 away win against Napredak with goals from Zakaric, Pantic, Valiente and Ricardo.

We spoke to Danilo Pantic and Marc Valiente after the game:

-After two consecutive defeats this was quite a crucial game for us. Knowing the importance of a cup competition, we had great desire to go through and we achieved a comfortable 4-0 win, said Pantic.

You scored first half injury time free-kick beauty.

-Important goal for me as it`s been three months since I started any game. I also assisted to Ricardo for our fourth goal and I hope we brought some joy to our fans. I think this is how we should look on the pitch, everyone needs to take their responsibility and then you achieve such a good result as we did today.

You celebrated your goal Ronaldo style.

-That`s out of respect for Ronaldo who made the impossible on Tuesday evening. He showed what you can do with great desire and he motivates us fellow athletes to go for more. I said to my roommate Georgijevic I`ll celebrate like Ronaldo if I score and that`s what I did.

Marc Valiente:

-I think we prepared this game well as we were all aware how important this one-legged tie is. It was also important mentally after we suffered two defeats in a row. We dropped those points out of the blue and we needed to get back to winning ways.

You scored your first Partizan goal.

-I`m truly over the moon, especially as I believe defenders can help attackers in such way.

Lazetic is your third coach since you arrived to Partizan.

-Honestly, I was surprised by Mirkovic`s departure as we all believe he is a great man and coach, someone we all got along with. But, it`s his decision and we have to respect it. Such things happen in football.

Did you feel any pressure before this game due to this turmoil?

-I didn`t. As a professional player I knew we were going to talk on the pitch and we just did that.