Crvena Zvezda

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc globally, with Serbia's SuperLiga among the competitions to have been suspended since March due to the outbreak – the Olympic Games and Euro 2020 were pushed back 12 months.

Red Star were 11 points clear of bitter rivals and neighbours Partizan Belgrade atop the table when the SuperLiga was halted but the defending champions will have the chance to clinch their third consecutive title when the league resumes, albeit in a condensed format, for the final four rounds on Friday.

Serbian powerhouse and 1991 European Cup champions Red Star will play behind closed doors when they travel to lowly Rad Beograd but Degenek is optimistic a full house will be in attendance for the club's final home fixture of the campaign against Proleter Novi Sad on June 20.

"We need one more point to seal the league," Australia international Degenek told Stats Perform News. "That's going to be on Friday night, hopefully we do the business there. Then we have three more games left and I think the last game of the season is at home.

"I hope by that time that they do let the fans in the stadium because there's talk here that maybe they can get fans into the stadium, maybe not. We're not 100 per cent sure there won't be any fans and we're not 100 per cent sure there will be. 

"But I think we will find a way somehow to celebrate with the fans, whether it's inside the stadium or outside. Obviously it's different when you win a title with no one in the stadium to when you win a title with 40,000 in the stadium. There's a difference and I hope the stadium is full by the time the title comes around. If not, then we will find a different way to celebrate."

"It's a been a long way away from football," added Degenek following the enforced break from football, with the centre-back braced for a hectic schedule after the Socceroos' World Cup qualifiers were also postponed, which is set to put a strain on his typical off-season plans. "Obviously we trained and maintained our fitness but just the fact you lack that pure competition, the games, winning, checking the ladder, checking how other teams went, so that's what has been missing for a while. It kinds of get depressing when you can't play every week. It gets even more depressing when you realise it wasn't a break, it was just due to health issues and reasons. Happy that it's back after a while and hopefully it never stops again.

"I'm just really excited and looking forward to getting back on track, getting back into the real world and I hope within a month or so there will be full stadiums again in the world of football. I hope this pandemic stays away for a while so no one has issues and no one is scared, the fact we can live our normal lives again and people who love football can live their normal lives again on a Saturday and Sunday, and take their kids and family to a game."

While the likes of Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have been hit hard by coronavirus, Serbia has managed to contain the outbreak in comparison, with more than 11,200 confirmed cases and 239 registered deaths.

"To be really, really honest with you, I think 95 per cent of the people here believe and know there's no virus, nothing going on," Degenek said. "Ninety-five per cent of people here think it's just a media hoax, due to all other reasons apart from an actual virus. A lot of people wear masks and gloves, but the people I'm around with and especially when we train, none of us believe there's an actual virus and something is actually happening. 

"Even now when you walk along the streets, you sit at restaurants, you go out at night to a restaurant and there's live music, people on top of each other. I think because my fiancé, she works in a hospital, and she knows there's a lot more people that die due to a normal virus than this coronavirus. I guess coronavirus has been quite well pushed in the media, got its popularity up and everyone got scared but I don't really talk much about it, I don't really care to be honest as long as my football starts back."

Germany's Bundesliga and the K League in South Korea have already returned this month amid social-distancing measures – no celebrating goals or shaking hands.

Those guidelines have baffled Degenek, who said: "I don’t understand the fact that you can't shake hands in a game and can't celebrate a goal but in the corner I'm hugging a player. My sweat is going on his sweat, there's head collisions, some people will bleed, things like that happen. 

"You tackle someone, someone spits on someone… I'm saying stupid things but I don't understand why you can't celebrate a goal when in a corner you can hug someone, slide tackle someone, you can hug someone during the game, move someone around, there's physical contact, it's not as if we're playing basketball or handball and there's not much contact."

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, a club great returned to Belgrade – Dejan Stankovic.

The 41-year-old, who played for Red Star between 1995 and 1998 before enjoying spells at Lazio and Inter, succeeded Vladan Milojevic as head coach in December.

It is Stankovic's first senior job following a brief period as a coach at Inter's academy last year and the 103-time Serbia international has been tipped for a successful career in the dugout.

"I was very excited that a player that he was has now become a coach and gets to coach me because he was won everything there is to win in club football," Degenek said of Stankovic, who won the treble with Inter under Jose Mourinho as part of a 15-piece trophy haul at San Siro to go with Serie A and other silverware at Lazio. 

"He has had some of the best managers in the world and I see in the past few months that we've had him, I've learned a lot. I've come across a lot of footballing ideas and things he wants. I'm very happy to have him as a coach but a friend as well. The way he has started here, I think he will have a good coaching career. I'm almost certain he will because he has so much determination, will, the drive to learn and to push. I think he will have a very good coaching career and it's very exciting to have him here with us."

Milojevic restored Red Star's position at Serbia's summit, but more importantly, he led the capital side back to the Champions League in 2018 – having not featured in Europe's premier club competition since 1992 – and again this season before vacating his position and eventually moving to Saudi side Al-Ahli in February.

"Very sad to see him leave but towards the end of his time, I think you could've seen there wasn't much more he could do," Degenek, 26, said. "You just see when someone is exhausted, when they have done everything and put their life into it. He obviously got the reward, he got a new job in Saudi Arabia which is financially rewarding and he deserves that.

"Also, he done a lot of things for this club which no other manager has done. Obviously very grateful to have him as my coach, also he is a very good person. Happy for him to move on in his career and also happy that I got to work with him and happy he was the one that pushed Red Star into a way that the club should be going, which is forward and in a brighter future."

Red Star quintet Marko Gobeljic, Njegos Petrovic, Dusan Jovancic, Marko Konatar and Branko Jovicic contracted COVID-19.

Gobeljic, Petrovic, Jovancic and Konatar had symptoms prior to Saturday's season finale and did not attend the match as a precaution.

It comes after Dejan Stankovic's Red Star celebrated a third successive SuperLiga title in front of fans in Belgrade on Saturday – defeating Proleter Novi Sad 2-1.

Red Star also played in front of a near 25,000 capacity crowd for the Serbian Cup semi-final against bitter rivals and neighbours Partizan, who won 1-0 on June 10, following the easing of coronavirus restrictions in the country.

"The aforementioned players are feeling well, and are in strict isolation as well as constant contact with the club's medical team," Red Star said in a statement on Monday.

"The condition of the players is being carefully monitored and a new test will be performed before the start of the preparations for next season."

Red Star added: "It is important to point out that all other players, management and staff who were in direct contact with the first team have received a negative result. Red Star is taking all necessary protection measures and we will continue to do so."

Serbian football resumed behind closed doors on May 29 but there were no restrictions on crowd numbers on Wednesday as defending champions Partizan beat neighbours Red Star 1-0 in the semi-finals.

A near 25,000 capacity crowd watched Partizan move a step closer to a fifth successive Serbian Cup crown following Bibras Natcho's 58th-minute winner at Stadion Partizana midweek.

"I thank the fans for their fantastic support and it was great to grind out this win in front of a full house," Milosevic said.

"Having that kind of support was absolutely imperative today. It was great to see a near-capacity crowd after such a long barren spell."

After a limited number of fans watched Red Star rout Radnik Surdulica 4-1 on Saturday, a full house greeted Dejan Stankovic's men in the Serbian capital.

Red Star have already wrapped up a third consecutive league title, but they were denied a first league and cup double since 2006-07.

Milosevic, who was appointed last year and claimed the Serbian Cup in his first season, added: "I think we did pretty well in a very tough match and reaffirmed that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

"It was tense, tempers flared here and there but no one crossed any lines and credit to Red Star too for their sportsmanlike behaviour."

Seven-time champions Partizan will face Vojvodina in the final on June 24.

Mihajlovic, who had an illustrious career playing for the likes of Sampdoria, Lazio, Roma and Inter, passed away following a battle with leukaemia.

The former Yugoslavia international continued his coaching career with Bologna after he was initially diagnosed with leukaemia in July 2019.

Mihajlovic underwent treatment, but leukaemia concerns were raised for a second time in March. He was sacked by Serie A club Bologna six months later.

Lazio said in a statement: "Lazio mourns the passing of Sinisa Mihajlovic: a great Lazio man, a warrior on the pitch and in life. His courage on the pitch was second only to that shown in the face of a serious illness, which never weakened him in spirit and temper.

"An indelible trace in the history of Lazio will remain of this fighter with a big heart, not only for having been champion of Italy, but for the message of hope in the face of the difficulties that he was able to represent up to the last moment of his life.

"We will remember him as he deserves, with the infinite embrace of his team and his people. Our deepest condolences to the family."

A Serie A statement said: "Lega Serie A is deeply saddened by the passing of Sinisa Mihajlovic, an icon of football and life.

"His pure class as a footballer and coach, his strength and his humanity are an example that leaves an indelible mark on Italian and world football."

Fiorentina, who Mihajlovic coached over a decade ago, posted on Twitter: "RIP Sinisa. Fiorentina mourns the death of Sinisa Mihajlovic and gathers around the family and loved ones."

Bologna posted: "Goodbye Mister, you will forever be in our hearts."

Mihajlovic was a set-piece specialist with a sweet left foot. He could operate in midfield but played mostly as a defender, making 63 international appearances and scoring 10 goals.

He won the Serie A title as a player with both Lazio and Inter after lifting the European Cup during his time at Red Star Belgrade.

Mihajlovic was part of Eriksson's Lazio team that won the 1999-2000 Serie A title, with his set-piece prowess, fierce tackling and combative attitude making Mihajlovic a standout figure in that era.

His death was announced by his family on Friday, with Mihajlovic succumbing to leukaemia at the age of 53.

As well as playing spells in Italy with Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Inter, Mihajlovic was a European Cup winner in 1991 with Red Star Belgrade and a long-time Yugoslavia international.

His free-kicks were among the best in the game, and he later took to coaching, with Milan, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Torino and Bologna among the clubs he led from the touchline.

Mihajlovic and Roberto Mancini, now the Italy head coach, were both highly influential figures in Eriksson's great Lazio side.

"Mihajlovic was a very successful player," Eriksson told Italian broadcaster Sky Sport 24. "For him there was no such thing as finishing second. He was generous, an intelligent and fabulous player. He was someone who helped everyone in the team, especially the youngsters. It's all very sad.

"He was a great coach even when he was still a player. He had to become a coach, it was known. He was a very intelligent player, he understood everything in football, I didn't need to talk about tactics with him.

"I don't know how many games Lazio have won due to his free-kicks or penalties. I remember that he was a very successful man and very helpful with everyone.

"He was different from me in terms of character, but the respect that existed was the secret of that team. This made Lazio great. It was impossible not to like Sinisa, he was positive, cheerful. It was a huge pleasure to work with him."

Former Lazio striker Christian Vieri added, in an Instagram post: "It's hard to find words today. Rest in peace great warrior."

Mihajlovic was sacked by Bologna in September after a disappointing start to the season, ending his second spell as head coach with the Rossoblu.

Milan great Andrea Pirlo paid his own tribute to Mihajlovic, writing: "A great man as well as being a great footballer... You have always proved to be a loyal warrior. Goodbye Sinisa."

Another former on-field adversary, Gabriel Batistuta, wrote: "How many battles on the field. Goodbye Sinisa."

Italian FA (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina said he was "deeply saddened".

"Sinisa was a protagonist on and off the field, an example of passion, determination and courage, able to inspire and excite," Gravina added. "Mihajlovic was a true champion as a player, as a coach, but above all as a person.

"In an era often marked by falsehood, he has always known how to put the truth before him, not underlining his defects and his weaknesses."

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis added his own salute, saying on Twitter: "A great man leaves too soon. A coach that in the past I had thought of bringing to Naples. A person of great human depth. A fighter who defied the disease with the courage of a lion."

Red Star Belgrade labelled Mihajlovic "a great star and a man with an incredible heart and strength", adding: "Our club expresses its deepest condolences to the Mihajlovic family. To him be eternal glory!"