The first leg ended in a 0-0 draw and the two sides will meet on Thursday in the second leg to determine who goes through to the group stage.
FK Partizan were formed in 1945 and their first success came between 1961 and 1963. They won the league title three times in a row. Their dominance was crowned when they reached the final of the European cup in 1966. Partizan lifted the Mitropa cup in 1978. They won the Yugoslavian domestic league 11 times and a further 16 times until 2017. They have been cup winners 14 times in their history. Many will remember back in 1984 when Videoton were drawn against Partizan in the UEFA Cup. Jozsef Szabo hit four that night and Majer scored the other in a 5-0 win. The second leg ended in a 2-0 win. The two have met in friendly games since in 2012 and in 2016. The first ended in a 2-2 draw and the most recent was a 1-0 win for Vidi. Current manager Marko Nikolic together with his assistants Radoje Szmiljanics and Goran Basarics all worked for Partizan. Players Danko Lazovic and Marko Scepovic are also former players of the Belgrade club. Their squad is valued by transfermarkt.de at around 19 million euros. They did not give players to the Serbian national side in the most recent call-up, while their most valued player is forward Uros Djurdjevics, who has a 3.5 million euro figure to his name.
They sit in fourth place after five league games in the Serbian Super league. They did not play a league game at the weekend like Videoton. You have to go back to season 1989-90 for the last time they did not finish in the top three. Partizan have won four games this season, losing only to Vozsdovacs. They beat Buducsnost Podgorica in the CL Q2 stage 2-0 on aggregate. However, Greek side Olympiakos won 3-1 in Belgrade and eventually went out 5-3 on aggregate to enter the Europa League.
Author: David Rechnitzer