"Madness" on the last day of the season

Seven of the 10 teams in the Meridianbet First Montenegrin Football League will fight for something in the final round, which is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday).

Even one more, the eighth out of ten teams would have a competitive motive on the last day of the season if the leaders of Jedinstva applied for a European license and thus respected all the great things that the footballers of the Belopolis team did this season.

There is no quality, bad judging has started, but the uncertainty is there

In any case, the fact that 70 percent of the clubs in the last round will have a strong competitive motive - be it the fight for the title, for Europe, or at least the hope that the barrage for survival can be avoided, gives the Montenegrin championship a charm that few can give before the last round boast.

The quality of football is at a devastating level, as evidenced by the visit to the stadiums, as well as the (penultimate) place that the CFL occupies on the UEFA list of teams' performance on the international scene, along with all this came a drastic drop in the level of refereeing, especially in the previous, penultimate round , but at least the CFL retained what it had sporadically in all previous years - uncertainty, uniformity, unpredictability.

Only Jedinstvo Franca, which could have fought for Europe if the players had not surprised the club's management with their results, Rudar, which is theoretically in the playoffs for survival, and Iskra, which was mathematically relegated to the Second League, do not have a result imperative in the last round.

At the same time, only one match (Jedinstvo - Rudar) was devoid of real competitive uncertainty, not counting of course the home team's desire to end the most successful first league season with a victory since football has been played in independent Montenegro.

Shocking defeat of Bućućnosti and a domino effect

The remaining four matches (Mornar - Budućnost, Arsenal - Sutjeska Meridianbet, Jezero - Dečić, and Petrovac - Iskra) have a competitive appeal.

Almost none of that, however, would have been watched if only Budućnost had done their homework against Jezera four days ago and won the title in an already prepared, championship choreography at the stadium near Gorica.

A shocking defeat (1:3) against a team that at that moment had only a theoretical chance to avoid the barrage for survival started a real avalanche and caused a domino effect when it comes to other matches.

The debacle of Budućnosti revived the hopes of Sutjeska, who is hoping for another setback for the current leader and the defense of the championship throne. The result under Gorica revived the hopes of Jezer - that it can survive without a barrage.

"We didn't deserve to win, we weren't worthy of the title on this day and it backfired on us. Many players were burned with desire, but they certainly wanted the best. We know where we made a mistake, there is one more game left and we will give everything to win", said the coach of Budućnosti Miodrag Džudović after the defeat against Jezera pod Gorica.

Budućnost and Sutjeska are now level on points (67:67), and the advantage of Podgorica is now only a better score between them.

What makes Buducnosti's task more difficult, and the race for the title even more uncertain, is the fact that its rival, Mornar, is not carefree before the final round. Rams have to win at least a point to be sure of survival without playoffs - even a possible victory of Jezer over Dečić over Berane could not threaten them in that case.

The "problem", however, is that Budućnost does not deserve a draw in Bar - the title would then be won by Sutjeska, if they celebrate away to Arsenal.

Sutjeska is still in the running for both trophies

"We believed until the end and the effort paid off. Now we have to do everything in our power to beat Arsenal. We depend on the second match, but Budućnost is under more pressure than us," said the coach Nenad Brnović, whose team is in contention for both trophies, as it plays the Cup final with Arsenal on May 29.

Tomorrow will be the preliminaries of that match, but what a preliminaries - Arsenal also need points. The team from Tiv would secure third place with a victory over the team from Nikšić and would not depend on the results of Dečić against Jezera, as they have a better score between them. Arsenal's third place would qualify them for the Conference League if the Tivat club earns a European license in the appeal process.

Dečić hopes to achieve a better result against Jezera than Arsenal did against Sutjeska and to win third place, but the "problem" of Tuzan is that their rival also hopes - with a victory, Plavljani would win direct survival, provided that Mornar loses to The future.

The results of the three matches of the last round (Mornar - Budućnost, Arsenal - Sutjeska Meridianbet and Jezero - Dečić) are unreal connected to each other and contain the charms of the fight for the title, Europe and survival!

Is there any better confirmation of the correctness of the decision to shorten the league from 12 to 10 clubs, which was started in 2017. And the topic for thinking about the additional reduced - to eight clubs. Anyway, Montenegro has lost one representative on the European stage, and even three teams are "guests" at every match this season, because they currently do not have pitches that meet the standards of the first league, whatever they are.

But that's a topic for another occasion, and it should be pointed out that tomorrow, before the last round, only Petrovac has a rival whose result means nothing competitively - if they beat Iskra, the new second division team, Petrovac will mathematically ensure survival without a playoff and will not depend on the result Jezera against Dečić.

Second division drama - is the first Montenegrin champion eliminated?

Things are just as dramatic before tomorrow's final round, with the difference that the "champion" is already known - the first-placed Mladost Donja Gorica secured their first place in the First League.

That's why everything is bursting in the fight for the barrage for the elite, as well as for survival.

And Berane secured the barrage, but it is not yet known whether they will qualify for the First League from the second or third position. Beranci are free, and they depend on the results of Koma - if the team from Zlatica wins Podgorica, they will take second place, Beranci will fall to third.

The match between Koma and Podgorica is also one of the key ones in the last round, because the guests are also hoping for a playoff - they have to win, but also hope that Bokelj will not celebrate at home against Igalo. Therefore, the people of Kotor also have a chance.

At the bottom, there is only one dilemma, who is relegated with OFK Nikšić, who gave up in the middle of the season - Grbalj or Zeta.

Grbljani have three more points and a point is enough for them against Mladost DG away.

Zeta's only hope is a win in Ulcinj against Otranto, and a defeat by Grblje - the team from Trešnjica has a better head-to-head record.

In every other variant, the first Montenegrin champion will be relegated to the Third League!