Football
Reuters 18y

PREVIEW-Soccer-Red Star favourites to repeat Serbian double

By Zoran Milosavljevic

BELGRADE, Aug 3 - Red Star Belgrade are strong
favourites to win the Serbian Cup and League double for the
second successive season after boosting their squad over the
summer.

The 1991 European Cup winners have signed celebrated coach
Dusan Bajevic and three internationals to stay ahead of city
rivals Partizan in what is likely to be another two-horse race
for domestic supremacy.

Two of those players, Bulgarian midfielder Blagoj Georgijev
and Senegalese defender Ibrahim Gueye, joined Red Star after
turning down Partizan.

Having been able to keep their sought-after striker Nikola
Zigic and add Brazilian youngster Eli Tadeu, Red Star should
have little trouble in dominating the 12-team first division
that kicks off on Saturday.

Partizan, the only real threat since the break-up of the
former Yugoslavia, compounded a poor season with a series of
drab performances in pre-season and have so far failed to
bolster their ranks with a major signing.

But Bajevic, who guided Olympiakos Piraeus to four league
titles and three cups in Greece, has made it clear that any kind
of complacency is unwelcome.

"We must get off to a good start and beat our neighbours
Vozdovac on the opening day," he told reporters after Red Star's
4-0 aggregate win over Cork City in the Champions league second
qualifying round on Wednesday.

"I won't look beyond that match at this point as it's so
important to kick off the title race on a high note," he said.

Beyond lies next Wednesday's away leg against AC Milan in
the Champions league qualifier and Bajevic believes his team
could cause an upset.

"Our end goal was not to reach the preliminary stage of the
competition and we won't lie down and roll over. We've got a
plan for Milan and we'll do our best to come through with it but
all in good time," he said.

NO CHALLENGE

While Red Star and Partizan have found it difficult to make
an impact in Europe recently, domestically their domination has
been largely unchallenged.

Red Star finished last season with 78 points from a maximum
of 90 while Partizan amassed 71. Third placed Vozdovac finished
a further 20 points behind with 51 points. Red Star lost just
twice all season, Partizan three times -- Vozdovac nine.

Most teams merely make up the numbers one season after
another and with Montenegrin clubs out of the picture following
the split with Serbia, the quality of the league is likely to
get even poorer.

Six teams in Serbia's "Superleague" are from Belgrade, four
from the relatively wealthy northern province of Vojvodina and
the remaining two come from the industrial towns of Smederevo
and Cacak.

Clubs in the impoverished south hardly make ends meet and do
not have the resources to compete in the top flight.

Dilapidated stadiums in Krusevac and Nis, former soccer
strongholds that hosted UEFA Cup matches in the 1980s, are now
home to second division football watched only by a handful of
die-hard local fans.

The exception was a recent friendly between Radnicki Nis and
Partizan, attended by 8,000 home fans hungry for first division
football their club can't afford.

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