The 2020/21 Serbian League was opened by a big derby. Reigning champion Sabac played against Radnicki, which won the Serbian Cup in the previous season. Radnicki, the visiting side in this match, took the points, after a great comeback.
2020/21 Serbian League, Day 1
Sabac – Radnicki 13:14 (5:1, 2:5, 3:4, 3:4)
Crvena zvezda – Partizan 12:9 (1:1, 6:3, 2:3, 3:2)
Banjica – Novi Beograd 011 2:19 (1:5, 0:6, 0:3, 1:5)
Zemun – Vojvodina 8:13 (1:4, 4:0, 2:5, 1:4)
Nais – Stari Grad 9:5 (2:0, 3:1, 2:1, 2:3)
After the first quarter of the derby played in Sabac, it seemed that the home team would win points. Sabac had a 5:0 lead. A minute and 6 seconds before the first break, Radnicki finally got on the scoreboard, when Strahinja Rasovic scored an action goal. The visitors started coming back step-by-step and they earned their first lead in the 28th minute (12:11). Radnicki doubled an advantage (14:12) with 01:57 minutes to go. In the remaining time, the hosts scored just a consolation goal. Strahinja Rasovic, who arrived at Radnicki from Eger, was the best scorer with five goals. Montenegro’s Aleksa Ukropina, who came from OSC Budapest, added three. Djordje Vucinic scored five goals for Sabac.
Crvena Zvezda defeated a young team of Partizan in a Belgrade derby. Centre-forward Milos Vukicevic led Crvena Zvezda with six goals. Zvezda’s latest addition – American center-forward Andrew Mavis (arrived from the University George Washington) debuted in this match, but he didn’t find the net.
Novi Beograd 011, one of the most serious contenders for the title, blew away Banjica, which is the youngest team in the league. Milos Cuk, the biggest star of Novi Beograd, still hasn’t debuted for the new club. Head coach Vladimir Vujasinovic decided to play without Cuk in this easy match.
