Serbia’s oldest football rivalry, involving champions Red Star and Belgrade crosstown rivals Partizan, continued on Wednesday in the national cup semi-finals in front of thousands of fans defying the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The winners will face Vojvodina Novi Sad in the final match.
Rival fans scuffled near the stadium before the match and during the warm-up.
Partizan Belgrade goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic was seemingly hit by an object thrown from the stands filled with with Red Star Belgrade supporters.
Some 20,000 fans were in the stands, fully packing the sections behind the goals while there was a lot of empty space elsewhere in the 30,000-seat arena.
Serbia lifted all restrictions on crowd size in the open on June 5.
A day later, Red Star Belgrade hosted Radnik in front of some 14,000 fans who flocked to the stadium to celebrate their title defence.
The number of novel coronavirus infections in Serbia had been dropping towards single digits until around a week ago before it rose again.
The authorities have reported between 48 and 96 new cases each day since then.
The disease has claimed 251 lives in Serbia so far.
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