Fans flock in as Partizan sink Red Star to reach Serbian Cup final

Partizan beat Red Star 1-0 in semi-final played in front of packed stadium.

SHOWS: BELGRADE, SERBIA (JUNE 10, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.

RED STAR FANS GREETING TEAM BUS WHICH DRIVES PAST 2.

FANS OUTSIDE STADIUM 3.

VIEW OF PITCH WITH SUNSET SKY 4.

RED STAR HAVING A GOAL DISALLOWED FOR OFFSIDES DURING THE FIRST HALF 5.

VARIOUS OF RED STAR FANS WITH LIT FLARES CHANTING 6.

VARIOUS OF BUILD-UP AND WINNING GOAL BY PARTIZAN'S BIBRAS NATCHO IN THE SECOND HALF 7.

PLAYERS CELEBRATING 8.

VARIOUS OF PARTIZAN FANS WITH LIT FLARES CHANTING 9.

SCOREBOARD 10.

PARTIZAN FANS 11.

PLAY BRIEFLY INTERRUPTED AS SMOKE FILLS THE GROUND 12.

VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE 13.

PLAY RESUMED AND PARTIZAN MISS AN ATTEMPT AT GOAL 14.

RED STAR FANS 15.

RED STAR FREEKICK AND MISSED ATTEMPT AT GOAL 16.

(SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) RED STAR COACH, DEJAN STANKOVIC, SAYING: "I don't want to rip into the lads as they did their best.

I'll say this again, we all could do better; I could do better for sure.

But if we played the game tomorrow again, I would perhaps field the same team, I would surely keep the same team, the same guys who do not deserve (such) massive criticism.

If we only had a little bit more patience and audacity to do what we practised, what we did and what we had prepared, that's what I feel sorry about".

17.

RED STAR SUBSTITUTES RUNNING DOWN TUNNEL AFTER FINAL WHISTLE 18.

PARTIZAN NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY 19.

PARTIZAN BADGE 20.

(SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) PARTIZAN COACH, SAVO MILOSEVIC, SAYING: "This was very important and I will use this opportunity to thank our fans for their really phenomenal, phenomenal support from the first to the last minute.

All our fans realised the importance of this game and all the ones who came indeed gave their best to support the guys and I think the guys repaid them for all that support in the right way on the field.

I am over the moon and I think that the entire team and all of us in the club should feel deep gratitude to the fans for considering that this was essential today." 21.

VARIOUS OF PARTIZAN PLAYERS CELEBRATING IN FRONT OF FANS STORY: Holders Partizan Belgrade beat bitter city rivals Red Star 1-0 on Wednesday (June 10) to reach the Serbian Cup final, as fans were allowed to attend games in unrestricted numbers for the first time since the coronavirus halted soccer in the Balkan nation in mid-March.

A near-capacity 25,000 crowd turned out for a tense Belgrade derby in a familiar atmosphere at Partizan's stadium as both sets of fans lit flares and taunted each other, with Bibras Natcho settling the match in the 58th-minute.

Natcho's close-range shot trickled through Red Star keeper Milan Borjan's arms into the net after dazzling footwork from striker Umar Sadiq, who left his marker flat-footed and squared the ball to the Israeli midfielder.

Sadiq was a handful all evening for Red Star's defenders, running past them almost at will and only a string of good saves from Borjan denied the towering Nigerian a goal.

Partizan will meet Vojvodina Novi Sad in the final on June 24 after Vojvodina beat Cukaricki Belgrade 1-0 earlier in the day.

(Production: Fedja Grulovic / Branko Filipovic)